Lost Friendships
by darkness65
Summary: one win away from being sinnoh champion, ash ketchum is suddenly betrayed by his closest friends and now lives in exile but life will always find a way to pull you back into the fray and this time he will show the world that one man does make a difference.
1. Chapter 1

**hello readers this is my new story i wanted to rewrite the one i made because frankly i felt my other one was horrible i got what i call writer's remorse anyways hope you like the story i will update a few times a week or once a week but i will update every week thank you and please review  
**

It was early in the morning and the sun was rising over the horizon lighting the vast forest at the foot of the mountains. On top of one of those mountains stood a young man looking out into the forest. That young man's name was Ash Ketchum the aspiring pokemon trainer with the dream of becoming pokemon master someday, well it used to be his dream. Suddenly a pokemon jumps out of a nearby bush and attacks him but something stops the pokemon midway and pushes him back.

The pokemon asks "how long were you aware"

"Ever since you got here, you really should practice on concealing your aura lucario"

"I will work on it master" he said. Ash rolled his eyes for he had told lucario thousands of times to stop calling him master, in ash's mind him and his pokemon were equal they were the only ones he could trust and they only trusted him this being a result of something that happened many years ago. Of course ash could understand all of his pokemon due to his strong bond with them and the mastery of his aura.

"someday you'll have to teach me that aura shield technique" said lucario

"of course my friend" said ash

Just then a small yellow mouse came running at an amazing speed

"you almost had him lucario, maybe next time" said pikachu

Lucario turned to pikachu and nodded, pikachu then hopped onto ash shoulder and asked

" we saw you ash what's on your mind" asked pikachu

" nothing just thinking" he said

"About that day" lucario snarled as he said this

Ash remembered that day like it was yesterday

**Flashback**.

Ash had just won the sinnoh conference and had been presented with his trophy. He had challenged the elite four and won now there was only one person standing in the way of him becoming sinnoh champion. He had trained for weeks for this battle this was his chance to become a champion and be one step closer to becoming a pokemon master. One day ash was training when he suddenly saw smoke rising from a building off in the distance he gathered his pokemon and ran to see what was going on. When he arrived he noticed the building was the one where Cynthia kept her pokemon it was sort of a daycare/nursery the firefighter pokemon were already there putting out the fire. After a while the fire was out and all the pokemon were safe. He tried to find Cynthia to ask her what had happened but he didn't find her so he decided to walk back to the pokemon center. When he walked in he saw Cynthia and all his friends glaring at him. He asked what was going on which is when Cynthia stepped forward and said

" How could you! You tried to injure my pokemon before our battle"

Ash was shocked he didn't know what she was talking about, he tried to explain that he was nowhere near the building when the fire broke out. Cynthia said there were eye witnesses that saw him running away from the building when the fire started, she then ran out of the pokemon center crying. Officer jenny was there to question ash on his whereabouts, ash said he was training and said his friends knew he went off to train for the match, but they said that he could've been doing anything. Everyone said that he would do anything to win they talked about him like the didn't know him at all. He was being betrayed by all his friends, the people he had helped and saved countless times. They didn't believe him when he told them he had nothing to do with it, they even confessed against him saying that they had heard him plan it all out. Ash was banned from ever competing in any league and was stripped of his trainer's license. When he returned home he learned that his mother had passed away in a car accident, ash had nothing and no one else to turn to so he decided to leave. Leaving every trace of his old life to start a new one, at night he took all the pokemon he had befriended throughout the years and left.

**Present time**

"Yea its been 6 years and I still cant get that memory out of my mind" said ash

" It will eventually go away master just give it time" said lucario

" Thank you my friend I appreciate your concern, common guys lets head back the others might be wondering where we are" said ash

Ash, pikachu and lucario all headed back to the place they now called home, it was a small cave a little bit down from the top of the mountain. He loved his new "home" it was peaceful up in the mountain, sure it took some time to get used to living up there but after awhile he found it was a good place to train his pokemon and master his aura abilities. Ash had trained his pokemon to absolute perfection but he felt that it was selfish if his pokemon were the only ones who trained, therefore he occasionally sparred with his pokemon he thought if his pokemon had to train hard and be pushed to their limits so should he.

They were arriving home when a loud roar was heard, ash looked up to see a giant orange dragon fly down and land next to him.

" Hey charizard how'd you sleep" asked ash

Charizard grunted and smiled at ash " fine" he said.

"subtle as ever huh" said ash

Charizard responded by sending a weak flamethrower at ash a habit and sign of friendship they've had for a long time.

When ash got to the cave all his pokemon were there waiting for him like every morning waiting for ash to tell them what kind of training they would be doing. Ash stopped and looked at all of his pokemon, he was proud of every one of his pokemon, they were his friends, they were his family. Ash had many pokemon all which had evolved into their final form except for pikachu of course but pikachu had been considering it but ash always told all his pokemon it was their choice he would not force them to do anything they did not want to. To name a few of ash's pokemon there was charizard, venasaur, blastoise, feraligator, meganium,and typhlosion, infernape, torterra, sceptile, swellow, staraptor, garchomp, heracross, a red drapion, Pidgeotto, a white salamance, his black lucario and pikachu of course, but these were not all of ash's pokemon, and of course ash had encountered many legendary pokemon throughout his travels some of which were part of his team he let them roam free but when he needed them they did not hesitate in coming back to him for ash had also forged a strong bond with them and they considered themselves his pokemon and his protectors even if the young man could take care of himself. Ash snapped away from his thoughts and told them to take the day off telling them he had to go contemplate a decision he was trying to make. Everyone looked at ash confused wondering what he had on his mind but all eventually went their own way to find breakfast since they fed on the plant and animal life that grew and lived on the mountain, ash had discovered it was better for his pokemon to eat fresh food rather than processed food.

While everyone went their way ash went over to a nearby waterfall and sat on a stone in the middle of the lake under the waterfall, this was the place he went to meditate when something complicated was on his mind. Ash sat down on the rock while lucario came and joined him they always meditated together and its where lucario first taught ash how to concentrate to improve his aura abilities.

" so master do you really believe its finally time?" asked lucario

"reading my thoughts again my friend" said ash

" my apologies master I didn't mean to…"

"I was joking lucario I would never keep secrets from you guys I know you are concerned, but yes I've been thinking and I think it is finally time to return, I also received an invitation from Scott for a tournament" said ash

"but master I thought they had banned you from any competition and revoked your license" said lucario

Ash remembered the day and felt anger inside, he suddenly became surrounded in a black aura. Lucario saw this and tried to calm down ash, he knew that when ash released his dark aura he was dangerous. Ash then calmed down and stared down at lucario.

"master I am sorry for saying that forgive me" said lucario.

" don't blame yourself lucario its not your fault, thank you for calming me down I appreciate it"

"anytime master" said lucario.

"thank you, and about what you asked, I was cleared two years ago but by then I had no interest in going back to all the people that betrayed me."

Two years ago during the sinnoh conference Paul had admitted to max that he had framed ash all that time ago because he hated ash. Realizing that he had betrayed his best friend he felt horrible, he lost the match he had against Paul the next day but max told authorities and then went to Cynthia to tell her the truth. After a long and grueling interrogation he admitted to framing ash, after that ash was cleared of all charges and his trainers license was reinstated. Everyone looked for ash for months but no one found him, he was gone and in ash opinion he wanted to stay gone.

**Meanwhile**

"Max will you stop bragging already"

"I don't tell you to stop bragging when you win a contest May so just leave me alone"

"okay you two how about both of you stop its getting late and we need to set up camp and start dinner" said Brock

"finally" said a redhead and bluenette.

"dawn, misty can you please go get firewood so I can make dinner. May and max can you go find some berries for dessert please" asked brock.

"allright" everyone said.

All of them had known each other for a long time and were now traveling together.

First there was misty the cerulean city gym leader and water pokemon trainer, then there was brock, the ex pewter city gym leader, may and max maple, may was an aspiring coordinator from hoenn max was a trainer who one day hoped to take over his fathers gym. Finally there's dawn she was also a coordinator but was from the sinnoh region. All these people had one thing in common they all knew and had once traveled with a young pokemon trainer years ago and all of them had made a big mistake and each one of them knew it. Everyone was sitting down for dinner when max started talking about the pokemon battle he had won earlier that day. While he was retelling everyone about it the girls started talking.

" you know his energy kind of reminds me of ash" said may

As soon as she said this everyone grew quiet and looked at her, then they lowered their heads remembering the long lost friend they had betrayed. Ever since that day none of them would speak his name because every time they did they felt the guilt all over again.

" allright guys we still got a long way to go to get to the tournament, we don't want max to be late" said brock

Meanwhile on another part of the world a blond woman stood at the edge of a lake as if waiting for someone, suddenly a large dragon came flying down and landed right in front of her this woman was the champion of sinnoh Cynthia.

"did you find anything garchomp" said Cynthia

Cynthia's garchomp looked down at the ground and shook his head. As soon as she saw this a tear slid down her face, she had been looking for such a long time and yet she had found nothing. Garchomp knew what this meant to her so he placed his claw on his shoulder in a way of telling her they would keep looking. She looked up and smiled at him, then before she left she looked up at the sky and said

" ash where are you"


	2. Chapter 2

Ash had woken up early the next day, he was giving one final thought on his decision. He knew his pokemon were more than ready, in his eyes they were perfect but the thing he could not get through his head was what he would do when he saw them again. Just thinking about them was filling him with rage.

"morning ash how'd you sleep" asked pikachu

"a bit restless but okay overall" answered ash.

"restless… why?" asked pikachu

"ill explain when everyone wakes up"

A few hours later every one of ash's pokemon stood by the mouth of the cave waiting for ash who told them to gather up after their morning training. Ash's pokemon were whispering to each other wondering why ash had called a meeting.

"do you know what its about" one of them asked another

"no I'm just as puzzled as you" another one answered.

Finally ash came out of the cave and everyone became silent waiting for what their trainer, master, and friend was going to tell them.

" everyone I've called all of you here to ask for your help and opinion in a decision I've been trying to make"

At this all the pokemon roared in agreement, they would do anything for ash and the fact that he was asking for their opinion meant this was very important.

" after some time thinking I've decided that its time to return but of course I want your opinion if any of you don't want to come I understand you are my best friends and family and you always will be no matter what if you disapprove just tell me"

Lucario stepped up to ash and said

"master I think I speak for everyone when I say that we consider you family as well and we are with you through thick and thin"

Everyone exclaimed in agreement and then asked

" so where are we going"

Ash smiled and said " first were going back home, after that a tournament"

After he said that everyone grinned and cheered they were finally going to battle other pokemon and for ash it was his chance to show everyone that they had made a great mistake.

The next day ash and all his pokemon were up early and ready to go, they were going to stop by pallet town first .

" all right everyone its time to go, we'll come back someday"

Ash returned everyone to their pokeball except for lucario, pikachu and charizard, lucario stayed out of his pokeball like pikachu it was lucario's choice but ash didn't mind plus he could always talk to lucario and pikachu anytime that way. The three of them hopped onto charizard and took off leaving the place they had called home for a long time.

A few hours later they were flying over pallet town, looking down ash saw that the town had changed but somehow kept its quiet and serene atmosphere. There were many more houses and stores but other than that not much had changed. Ash had told charizard to go to his mothers house hoping that it was still there, and then he saw it his old home was still there, suddenly memories of him and his mother came rushing back. These memories made him happy, something he hadn't been in a long time but they also made him sad and made him feel a bit of anger, all kinds of memories and emotions started flowing through him but he pushed them away as he walked to the front door and opened the door with a spare key kept close to the entrance. When he stepped in he saw nothing had changed here either he saw pictures all around but only focused on the ones of his mom. He was going to go visit him mom and pay his respects but he wanted to clean up first he had after all spent years on a mountain, he had noticed a clothes shop and a place so he could get a haircut so he took a shower and headed over to the clothing shop first.

As soon as he entered the lady at the checkout counter looked at him giving him a resentful look as if wondering what he was doing in a store like this but ash didn't care what she thought. He started looking around and grabbed a few things and took them to the dressing room, he went through a lot of clothes but he finally found something he liked. A black t-shirt that hugged his toned and muscled upper body and a pair of black pants not tight fitting but just right at the waist and legs and loose at the ankles, a black trench coat with a collar that stayed up and went down to the bottom of his calves a cool pair of black boots and a black beret with a white pokeball symbol on it ( imagine the guy version of Cynthia's outfit but with a beret). He liked how he looked but he still needed a haircut. He walked up to the clerk but this time she was staring in disbelief, the guy she saw come in with rags was now in every way appealing to her.

" that looks good on you" the clerk said with a small blush.

"humph" ash grunted.

He still didn't care what she thought she had reproached him at first and now was being nice, in his opinion she only cared about looks.

" can I wear these out of here " he asked without showing any emotion.

"yes of course let me ring them up" she said still blushing.

Ash's mother had a lot of money saved up over the years and when she passed away there was a lot there and she left everything to ash so ash withdrew some money so he could pay for everything. Ash paid for his clothes and walked out of the store and headed over to get a haircut. He remembered what sir Aaron's hair looked and asked the barber/stylist to cut it like that. After a few minutes it was done and ash looked into the mirror, he liked what he saw, he paid for the haircut, thanked the barber and walked out. He saw a flower stand just outside the barber shop and bought some roses. He had left lucario and pikachu at home so he went and got them before heading over to pay his respects. When ash got home he saw lucario and pikachu sitting on the roof of the house taking in the scenery.

"hey guys I'm back lets go" ash said

Both of them knew where they were going, they quickly jumped down and joined ash. A few minutes later they were at the graveyard and were headed towards where ash's mom was buried. When they finally got there ash stood in front of the tombstone thinking of what he could say. A few minutes went by silently until finally.

" mom I miss you so much, I cant explain what its like being here without you, you were always there for me supporting everything I did. I could always count on you I'm sorry I left but you were the perfect mom I bet you were looking over me all the time" he smiled when he said that last sentence.

" she would be proud of you no matter what" said pikachu

Ash laid the roses down in front of the tombstone and then he had an idea he concentrated a large amount of aura into his hand then touched the ground and then stood up and said

" I love you mom"

As soon as he finished saying it a time flower bloomed right where he had touched the ground, those words would be remembered until the end of time. Lucario approached ash and said.

" she would be proud master, she always was"

"thanks lucario, common guys lets go get some rest"

They headed home to take a break, they would leave the next day to go sign up for the tournament. When they got home ash and his pokemon trained for a short while and then went to sleep. Since there was not enough room in the house he let them go wherever they wanted to sleep since there were woods nearby most of them opted for that so before they left for the night they said goodnight to ash and headed over to the forest. Lucario and pikachu as well a some other pokemon stayed in the house for the night.

Later that night ash had gotten up and went outside, he had a lot on his mind and couldn't sleep but then again he had nights like this almost every night, nights of peaceful sleep had left him a long time ago. He walked into the forest and walked for a while then found himself on a hill overlooking a small part of pallet town and looked out into the town he had called home when he was young. Ash knew he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight so he sat down, and started to focus his aura. He closed his eyes and formed a large aura sphere in front of him, after it was large enough he split the sphere into hundreds of small spheres and made each one start revolving around him each of them in its own unique way. The amount of concentration and aura ability needed was one of a kind only he had achieved it the only other person in history that had was Sir Aaron but ash had also surpassed that amount of power. Ash opened his eyes and saw the small spheres dancing in the night sky, to him they looked like little blue stars revolving around him and they made him feel at peace. Some time had passed because when he finally checked the sun was starting to rise in the distance so he decided he would head back he gathered all the little spheres making them one large sphere again and then made the sphere burst after that he started walking back home.

The sun was a little higher up in the sky when ash finally got home it was around 6 in the morning and it was time for training, he took a deep breath and let out a long whistle suddenly all of ash's pokemon came running out of the house and the woods and lined up in front of him.

" allright guys time to train, you know the drill everyone who can fly go up to Mt. Silver and back lets but lets make this interesting, first one back get a one on one training session with me." said ash

After he said that they all became instantly excited, sure they all had occasional one on one sparring sessions with ash but whenever they had a full day to train with him they always came out of it stronger, smarter and sometimes with new attacks.

" ready, set, go" ash said as all the pokemon who could fly took off.

"allright everyone else we have around an hour so everyone match up with someone who has a type advantage over you and then switch to someone you have a type advantage over, lucario you're with me, we're all going to work on endurance for about half an hour and then a little tournament."

Everyone paired up with someone with a type advantage for example fire against water, ice against dragons etcetera, and lucario and ash were sparring. After about half an hour ash got everyone's attention.

" allright everyone whoever you are paired up with right now will have a match with you but you only have one minute so give it everything you got the winner of each match will move up the bracket until the finals, the winner of that will also get a one on one training session with me. Lucario and pikachu you're both going to sit this one out and help me judge the matches allright everyone get ready…. Begin."

After about twenty minutes the two pokemon fighting in the final round were infernape and sceptile this match would prove the winner but they were both tired, in the last twenty minutes they had gone from match to match this last match would come down to willpower and endurance a lucky shot could end the match. They both walked to the middle of the field and shook hands.

" are you sure you guys don't want a break?" asked ash

Both pokemon nodded signaling they were ready to start. Ash was a bit hesitant but then nodded and said " Begin"

Infernape started and sent a flamethrower at sceptile, he dodge the flamethrower using extreme speed and appeared behind infernape and tried hitting him with a leaf blade, infernape skillfully dodged the first one and began a close combat attack, for a while they were trading punches but they were getting tired fast so the both separated to different sides of the field, the end was close they both knew it they had to finish this, suddenly infernape activated his special ability the flames on his head became larger and more intense and his eyes became bright orange, sceptile had activated his ability already in a previous battle but he still had a trick up his sleeve. Sceptile formed a large energy ball in his mouth and when it reached full size he swallowed it something ash had taught a lot of his pokemon, sceptile now had a green aura surrounding his body, the blades on his arms grew larger and thicker and his eyes were now glowing. They both looked at each other and used their last attack, infernape became engulfed in a blue flame while sceptile became engulfed in a purple energy, infernape was using flare blitz while sceptile was using giga impact. They both rushed at each other at amazing speeds and collided in the middle of the field causing a huge explosion, when the dust cleared both pokemon could be seen standing on opposite sides of the field with their backs to each other it seemed like time was moving slowly when suddenly sceptile fell to his knees, infernape had won. Infernape turned around and approached sceptile and then helped him up.

" good job my friend another second and you would've had me" said infernape

" well I guess that makes us even twenty five wins each huh" said sceptile

"yea I guess it does " said infernape

" good job both of you I'm very proud of you both and congratulations infernape you won and you're finally even with sceptile. Allright both of you go take a nice long break the others should be back any minute now" said ash.

As soon as he said this he heard roars and yells from the pokemon coming back from Mt. Silver. Everyone was pretty close together but up in front there were three pokemon tied up for first each one trying as hard as they could to win.

"right on cue and it looks like staraptor, swellow and garchomp are tied for first I wonder who is going to win"

The three pokemon were only a few hundred yards away when garchomp suddenly let out a terrifying roar and broke away from the pack a second later garchomp had sped past him and landed a few feet behind him. Another second later the rest of the pokemon landed in front of ash.

"almost had you that time garchomp, good job" said staraptor

" ill win next time watch but good job" said swellow

All the pokemon took their turn congratulating garchomp and telling him that they would beat him next time, ash then approached him.

" good job garchomp I'm very proud of you, I'm proud of all of you now everyone go take a break we're leaving in a few hours"

Ash then went back into the house and made some breakfast, it was only seven in the morning after all. Pikachu then came running into the house looking for ash.

"ash can I talk to you" said pikachu


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh my god thank you guys for rading and reviewing i honestly tought this story was** **horrible were it not for you guys i wouldve scrapped it and started all over again so thank you, now on a story related matter i might make some of mistakes here and in future chapters but they will be fixed so now i hope you enjoy this chapter and ill upload more in a few days  
**

" are you sure buddy, I don't want you to rush into something like this you've been with me the longest I just want you to be one hundred percent sure" said ash

" yea I'm sure, I've actually been thinking about it for a while and I think its finally time" said pikachu

**A few minutes ago**

Pikachu had come running into the house looking for ash asking him if he had a moment to talk. Ash of course said yes and sat down to talk to pikachu.

Pikachu sighed and then said

" ash you've always been there ever since that first day we met, you've always supported me and have never forced me into anything I didn't want to but now I have a request for you ash"

"of course what do you need?" ash asked

"ash you always gave me a choice on whether or not to evolve and I finally made my choice, ash its time for me to evolve" pikachu said

**Present time**

" Okay buddy if you are sure you're ready then I wont stop you this is your choice and I support it" said ash

He then went and got his bag and came back, out of the bag he pulled out a small yellow steel box. Inside the box there was two rows of thunderstones, ash pulled one out and held it in his hand he then put the box back in his bag and looked at pikachu.

"are you sure" ash asked

Pikachu nodded and then ash held out his hand, before pikachu touched the stone he looked at ash and said

" thank you for always giving me a choice"

Pikachu then touched the stone with his paw and was engulfed in a white light, a few seconds later a raichu stood where pikachu used to.

" you look great raichu" said ash

Raichu then ran up to ash and jumped on his shoulders and rubbed his cheek on ash's cheek and then said " thank you"

Ash had quickly adjusted to the size difference and didn't notice it anymore. Then he looked at the time it was after eight in the morning he figured it was time to get everyone ready. He went out back and let out a long whistle a few seconds later all his pokemon were lined up in front of him. No one said anything about pikachu having evolved since they all knew he had been thinking about it and finally told ash, raichu stood next to lucario in the line, the both looked at each other and nodded then looked back at ash.

" well guys its time we get going there's five days before the tournament starts so I want to get there early so we can get some training for a few days and relax until it starts. The tournament is all the way over in sinnoh so we should get there quick, garchomp you're going to be the one taking us okay"

garchomp nodded and went to get himself ready

" allright guys its time " said ash

He then returned everyone into their pokeballs and lucario and raichu joined ash. Ready garchomp, lets go.

**About 2 hours later **

" you okay garchomp"

Garchomp smirked and flew three time faster and then slowed back down to original speed.

"still want to ask me if I'm okay, common ash you trained me better than that" said garchomp

" okay, okay sorry anyways were almost there see those stadiums well land there"

A few seconds later garchomp landed in front of a large hotel, ash, lucario and raichu jumped off garchomp. Ash then patted the large dragon on the neck and said good job, garchomp then let out an enormous roar that terrified anyone who was standing nearby but to ash, raichu, and lucario its was normal.

" thanks" ash said then recalled garchomp into his poke ball.

Ash then headed for the pokemon center next to the hotel to heal all his pokemon and to register in the tournament. On his way there he noticed that all the girls he passed on his way there we staring at him blushing, giggling and whispering, when he got to the center he looked back and noticed some of them were even following him. He walked in and saw that not much had changed since he had been in a pokemon center, he walked up to the front desk and was greeted by a smiling nurse joy.

"hello welcome to the pokemon center how may I help you" asked nurse joy

"hello nurse joy could you please heal my pokemon" asked ash

" of course just put them on this tray and chansey will come and get them"

Ash then took out every poke ball one by one and placed them on the trays, nurse joy was amazed she had never seen anyone with this many pokemon. When he got the last poke ball onto the trays he looked at raichu and lucario and asked them if they wanted to stay or go with him and they of course chose to stay with him.

" okay we will have them ready in about an hour, anything else I can help you with" she asked

"actually yes I'm here to register for the tournament" ash said

" okay if I could just borrow your pokedex for a bit to register you and your pokemon"

"nurse joy I'm going to need for you not to yell out my name when you see it okay"

She nodded then placed the pokedex on a machine, a few seconds passed and then she saw the name. she gasped and covered her mouth and then said.

" you're ash ketchum you've been missing for years, where have you been"

" that isn't important, nurse joy I need to ask you if there is a possibility to go by a different name during the competition"

" ummm I don't know let me check…here , it says that you can go by another name until the quarter finals but may I ask why""it's a longs story nurse but thanks for checking, could you put my name down as Red Satoshi"

She nodded and put in the information and finished registering him and gave him back his pokedex.

"you're all registered Mr. Satoshi good luck and have a good day" said nurse joy

Ash thanked her and then smiled and winked at her then walked away leaving a blushing nurse joy. After he walked out of the pokemon center he headed to hotel building next to it, nurse joy had told him that Scott had reserved a room for him in the hotel next door. He had grown used to sleeping in the woods but he figured he could make an exception for the time being, anyway he would spend most of his time outside. He walked up to the front desk and saw that the lady there was madly blushing and looking up at him he sighed and walked up to her.

" hello miss I have a reservation" said ash

"of course sir what is your name" she said

Then ash realized that the reservation would be under his name but then he decided to try something.

" actually I didn't make the reservation an acquaintance of mine did his name is Scott Enshida"

"let me check… yea here you go your room number is 365 oh and there is also a letter here for you, have a nice day and if you need anything ill be right here" as she said that lst sentence she smiled and winked at ash.

He took the letter and said "thank you"

Ash then headed to the elevator with lucario walking behind him and raichu on his shoulder, he got on the elevator and pushed the button on the floor his room was in. When he got out of the elevator he noticed he was on the top floor of the hotel, when he found his room he opened the door and saw the humongous room he would be staying in he was shocked.

"I guess Scott really went all out huh" ash said

Ash looked around the room for a bit and then sat down on the couch to read the letter the he had gotten.

_Dear Ash_

_If you are reading this it means you decided to participate in the tournament and checked into the hotel hope you like the room I decided to put it under my name thinking you wouldn't want anyone to know you were here. So how was it on that mountain, don't worry I didn't tell anyone. I'll be there for the later rounds of the competition I would like to talk to you so ill see you when I get there. Good luck ash not that you need it._

_Sincerely_

_Scott _

"well looks like after all that time he still kept tabs on me, common guys lets go look around outside" ash said then walked towards the door with lucario and raichu following him.

They walked out of the elevator into the lobby and on their way to the front door ash saw the clerk that attended him was still there and she noticed him and winked at him. The three of them walked out of the hotel and headed towards the forest nearby, they walked through the forest for a while until they found themselves in a clearing with a pond.

"this is the perfect place for us to train, what do you guys think" ash asked

Lucario and raichu looked around for a bit and then nodded at ash agreeing with him.

" we better get back and get everyone else to show them this place, lets go"

The three of them walked back to the pokemon center to get everyone else, he walked through the front doors and headed to the front desk when he heard something that made him stop in his tracks.

"see may I told you we weren't lost "

"be quiet max were lucky to have gotten here at all"

"allright you two stop fighting and lets go get max registered, we still need a room to stay in" said dawn

After six years ash still knew who those voices belonged to and when he heard them again after all this time he was filled with rage. Raichu and lucario noticed what had changed ash's mood and tried to calm him down. The five people that had walked in behind him were now heading over to the front desk, ash decided it would be best if he got his pokemon and left as soon as possible. He walked to the front desk and heard the youngest member of the group talking with nurse joy

" nurse joy id like to register for the tournament" max said

Nurse joy then noticed ash and said " of course just hold on for a moment"

She then noticed ash and called him over

"Mr. Satoshi your pokemon are ready"

Ash was glad she had not used his real name and then walked over to the desk and nodded at the nurse while two chansey came out pushing two carts with the trays ash had placed his pokeballs on. Ash opened his bag and started placing the pokeballs inside quickly but carefully, max then walked up to him and started asking him a lot of questions.

" wow are all these your pokemon?, how did you get that many?,are you also in the competition?"

Ash just ignored him and kept gathering his pokemon, when may walked up to him

"I'm sorry if my brother is bothering you but he gets excited when he sees a lot of pokemon" said may

Ash gathered the last of his pokemon and turned towards the door and walked away

"hey my sister is talking to you answer her"

Ash just kept on walking and by now raichu and lucario had joined him, but before he reached the door he heard max yelling at him again

"hey didn't you hear me, apologize to my sister"

When ash just ignored him max went up to ash and said

" fine I challenge you to a pokemon battle and when I win you will apologize to my sister" said max

"I don't have time to waste on you kid go bother someone else" said ash and kept walking.

"you and your pokemon must be weak that's why you don't want to battle me" said max

Ash stopped dead in his tracks then turned and looked at max with rage in his eyes.

"don't ever call my pokemon weak, you want a match fine lets go outside" said ash

Ash was heading outside when raichu jumped on his shoulder, when everyone else saw this it reminded them of ash little did they know he was closer than they thought. They all walked outside and found an empty practice field to battle in. ash and max walked to opposite sides of the field and brock stood in the center.

"this will be a three on three pokemon battle with no substitutions, first one to loose all three pokemon will loose the match send out your pokemon"

" gallade I choose you" yelled max

Ash looked at lucario next to him and talked to him through his aura and told him

"will you help me out with this one my friend" ash asked

Lucario was the only one ash would talk through aura in battle, he figured it would be unfair to anyone in the competition so he decided he would only do it with lucario. But right now he didn't care about fairness he just wanted to destroy the person across from him.

Lucario leaped onto the field and took his battle stance.

" Begin" brock yelled

" gallade x scissor" yelled max

When gallade got close lucario disappeared and then reappeared behind it and began sending a barrage of punches at gallade which all hit

"gallade psychic" max quickly yelled

Before gallade was able to send out the attack lucario disappeared again and reappeared behind him once again and sent a huge aura sphere at gallade knocking it back, when it landed it was unconscious with swirls for eyes.

Max gritted his teeth and sent out his next pokemon

" Go mightyena" yelled max

Lucario sent a barrage of aura spheres at mightyena and then disappered again using extreme speed. When all the aura spheres had finished lucario appeared in the air above mightyena with a staff in his paws and hit mightyena while coming down, when he landed lucario started attacking over and over with the staff then leaped to his side of the field. A moment later mightyena was on the ground knocked out.

"how are you commanding lucario" max demanded

Ash just stood there waiting for max to call out his final pokemon.

" fine you want to play with speed, go sceptile" max yelled

Ash scoffed and said " you think he can match up to lucario you're sadly mistaken"

"sceptile leaf blade" max said

Lucario waited until the last second and stepped out of the way and then sent a blaze kick towards sceptile which had a huge effect on sceptile. Sceptile then sent an energy ball towards lucario while lucario sent an aura sphere at sceptile, both spheres collided and created a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared lucario was seen in front of sceptile sending a flurry of punches towards him, after a few more punched lucario returned to his side of the field .

"sceptile solar beam"

Lucario saw the grass pokemon charging its attack up and turned back and looked at ash, ash nodded and then lucario did as well. A few seconds later sceptile launched the attack at lucario and then an explosion happened.

"Yes direct hit" cheered max

But if someone had looked close enough before the attack hit they would've seen the attack being stopped just mere inches in front of lucario by a blue barrier. Through the smoke everyone could hear the cries of pain from a pokemon but it was not lucario it was sceptile, when the smoke cleared lucario was standing over a fainted sceptile with a the bone staff in his hand. Lucario then walked over and stood next to ash. Ash looked at lucario and patted him on the head and said

"good job my friend"

"thank you master but his pokemon were not much of a challenge" said lucario

" either way great job"

Ash then turned to look at max and said

"you better think twice before calling my pokemon weak kid, if anyone here is weak its you its surprising you were even invited to the tournament"

Ash then turned around and walked towards the forest.

"hey don't talk to my brother like that come back here and apologize" may said and then started following ash, but before she got close lucario stepped in front of her and stopped her.

"raaaagh" lucario growled at may

"leave them lucario they're not worth our time" ash said to lucario

Lucario then glared at may and joined ash " don't follow me" he said to the others as they were walking away

Ash, raichu and lucario walked into the forest and then dropped out of sight.

"who is this guy" max thought

Ash was now walking through the forest to the place he had found and then raichu asked

"are you okay ash"

"yea I'm okay, I just didn't think I would see them this soon" said ash

"it would have happened sooner or later right master" said lucario

"yea you're right, anyway common lets go and relax a bit" ash said


	4. Chapter 4

**hello everyone i know i said i wouldnt be updating in a w hile but i got some good reviews and said what the hell but first i want to adress some things about my previous chapters. first, some people were telling me that cynthias garchomp is female, i know i am sorry for the typing error i apologize and will try to not make the same mistake. secondly the color of of ashs pokemon, people i didnt want to go with some of the usual color so i thought of some colors that would make them interesting after everyone this is my first official fic so now that thats out of the way thank for reviewing please keep it up and i hope you enjoy this chapter**

" what do you guys think, I thought it would be a good place for training until the competition starts and a place to relax after battles"

All of ash's pokemon were now at the clearing he had found earlier and they all agreed that this would be a great place to train and relax.

" ok guys we will just have a simple sparring session and then relax for the rest of the day"

**A few hours later **

"okay everyone good job that will be it for today how about you guys go find some food and relax"

Everyone nodded and went into the forest to find food, lucario ran off into the forest and quickly came back with some berries in his hands and handed half to raichu. Ash smiled at how his two pokemon were so close to each other, you could say they were the adults in the family.

"you guys relax, I'm going to go meditate for a bit" ash said to them

They both nodded and sat down and started talking. Ash then headed for the small little island in the middle of the pond and sat down, closed his eyes and then was surrounded by aura.

**Meanwhile **

In the pokemon center cafeteria brock, misty, may, max and dawn were eating dinner and talking when may noticed something was wrong with her brother.

"max are you okay, you seem a bit quiet" may said

" Its just that I was thinking about my battle earlier, I mean that guy beat me so easily what if I'm not good enough to be here" said max

" that guy was a jerk max, what he said doesn't matter you've proven you deserve to be here" said misty

" yea max you're a good trainer just train a bit more and I'm sure you'll beat him" said brock

" yea max just do your best, but on that subject he was kind of cute don't you think" dawn said

" dawn only you would think that after he was rude to us" said may

" yea I know he was but you have to admit it he was cute and may I saw looking him over a couple of times, you too misty" said dawn

Both may and misty denied it but they could not hide the blush that overcame their faces.

" well guys its getting late we should head back to our rooms, max we will all train with you tomorrow how about it" said brock

" thanks everyone I feel better, allright lets head to our rooms"

Back in the forest ash had just finished meditating and decided it was time for everyone to go to sleep, ash let out a loud whistle and moments later his pokemon were all there.

"allright everyone its time for bed so pick a spot anywhere you want, infernape and I will be training most of the day tomorrow so you all know what to do raichu and lucario will be in charge allright have a good night guys ill be here if you need me" said ash

Ash then walked over to one of the trees sat down leaning against it and dozed off he had gotten used to sleeping like that anyway during all his time away.

The sky was still dark when ash woke up he got up care full not to wake raichu sleeping beside him and lucario sleeping on a branch above him. He quietly walked over to infernape who was already awake and then they both walked deeper into the forest.

When they were a bit away from where everyone else was infernape spoke up

"so where are we going to train" asked infernape

Ash stopped and looked up at a small nearby mountain

"up there and we are going to run there, see if you can catch up" ash said an then started sprinting, infernape also started and was slowly gaining on ash but every time he got close ash would somehow break away. They were close to the top of the mountain and they were now neck and neck and a few hundred feet away they both kept running but when it was over ash had won, it was close but clear who won. They were both a bit tired but not exhausted or unable to do anything else ash and his pokemon were in excellent shape they were used to this but still they were a bit tired. Then ash spoke up

" okay that was the first part of the training to get you energized, to get your adrenaline pumping to the point were you feel you have to keep moving, now as you know I've trained everyone to use a bit of aura so today I'm going to teach you to harness it and use it in combat but aura is very powerful so the move you will learn should only be used in an emergency or last ditch effort so now that you're all worked up sit down and concentrate on your aura, control it and then we can move to the next step. After a few minutes infernape was enveloped in a blue aura and was now in full control.

" okay infernape now you must chose which of your attacks you wish to infuse with your aura, most of the other have chosen their strongest attack which will you choose" ash said

Infernape thought for a few seconds and then looked at ash and said

"flare blitz"

"yea I imagined you would pick that, allright lets begin"

**A few hours later **

"okay, again" said ash

Infernape's body became engulfed in a deep blue aura as he ran toward a huge boulder, to anyone it would look like a normal flare blitz but it was something completely different then suddenly when infernape struck the boulder it turned into dust,

"good job infernape, now remember the more control you have over your aura the stronger the attack will become so practice the move and your control and you will be unstoppable" said ash

"of course ash" said infernape

" okay well I think its time we got back its past lunchtime, you've worked hard today so we'll walk back and find some food on the way"

**Meanwhile **

A beautiful woman with long blond hair had just arrived at the pokemon center on the back of her garchomp. Everyone noticed the young woman and were talking among themselves about her and the garchomp that was with her. Of course this young woman was the champion of the sinnoh region Cynthia.

She jumped off garchomp's back and returned her to her pokeball and then walked into the pokemon center. She had been invited to the tournament that was taking place and was hesitant at first but then she realized that the person she had been looking for might be at this tournament, she walked up to the front desk and said

"hello nurse joy"

"hello Ms. Cynthia how are you today and how may I help you" asked nurse joy

"I'm fine thank you, as you know I'm participating in the tournament and I was wondering if you could tell me if a certain trainer I'm looking for is in the tournament" said Cynthia

"of course what is the name" asked nurse joy

"Ash Ketchum" said Cynthia

Nurse joy was shocked when she heard the name but quickly covered it up by going over to her computer to "look for the name". she knew that ash ketchum was here but she had promised not tell anyone so she turned to Cynthia and then said

"sorry I could not find anyone by that name but there's still time until the tournament starts"

"thank you nurse joy" said Cynthia disappointed

"was he special to you" asked nurse joy suddenly

cynthia was a bit shocked that the nurse had suddenly asked her about such a thing but decided it was probably best if she talked about it.

" yes he was and I pushed him away" said Cynthia sadly

"I'm sure you'll find him you never know this tournament could be it" said nurse joy

" yea thank you nurse joy, have a good day" said Cynthia and then headed to her hotel room.

The next few days went by quickly everyone who was participating in the competition was training hard. Ash made sure his pokemon were healthy and ready, the only question was if he was ready. The competition started tomorrow and ash was giving one last speech to his pokemon..

"tomorrow is the first battle guys, I know you are ready you are the strongest there is and starting tomorrow we will show everyone how strong we've become, tomorrow will be the beginning of a whole new adventure and on this journey we will always come out on top" said ash

Ash's pokemon all cheered in excitement, they were glad they had such a caring trainer and friend and they knew that no matter what he would be there for them therefore they would always be there for him.

" okay guys until the competition is over the ones not battling will be doing light training every other day I don't want you guys getting hurt okay, infernape it'll be just you tomorrow okay I want to send a strong message" said ash

Infernape nodded and roared loudly.

"okay everyone its time to get some rest good night" said ash

Everyone one then walked off in to different places for the night and ash, lucario and raichu went to the tree they had rested at for the last few days, ash rarely went into the hotel room he had and only used it when he needed a place for himself. Slowly he dozed off knowing that tomorrow his life would change once again.

The next morning ash woke up to his pokemon having breakfast and talking amongst themselves. He got up and went to wash his face at the pond, he had decided that his pokemon deserved a break so today there would be no training for anyone. Ash then called infernape over and recalled him into his pokeball, he then told his pokemon he would be back in a while and headed towards the stadium with raichu on his shoulder and lucario at his side. A few minutes later he was in front of the pokemon center and decided to walk in and see if they had listings of who would be battling who. Ash then walked up to the front desk and said

"hello nurse joy I was wondering if there was listings of the battles taking place today"

" yes there are listings but they will be posted after the opening ceremonies which are in a few minutes I imagine you were heading over there" said nurse joy

"yea I was okay then thank you I will be back after the ceremony is over" said ash and then began walking toward the door

" oh wait Mr. Satoshi" yelled out nurse joy

Ash turned back and walked over to her again

"yes nurse is there something else, and thank you for remembering about the name" said ash

" yes its actually about that, earlier this week the sinnoh champion Cynthia came looking for you she said she had been looking for ash ketchum for a long time but I told her there was no one with that name here" she said

When ash heard this he went into deep thought remembering the woman he had once considered a mentor and how he had felt about her but he shook it off and said

" thank you nurse"

"she was important to you wasn't she" asked nurse joy

" yea she was, still is but she would never feel the same way" said ash

" maybe you should tell her, you never know she could feel the same way" she said

" maybe I will, maybe anyway thanks again nurse joy I should really be heading to the ceremony" said ash

Ash then walked out of the pokemon center and headed over to the main stadium. A few minutes later he was standing in the back leaning against a wall waiting for the ceremony to start, he was looking around and saw a few people he recognized but the majority of the trainers there were strangers to him but of course he had been gone for six years. Ash kept looking around until he noticed someone was looking directly at him, he immediately recognized the person with long gray hair, gray shirt and black pants. The man got up and walked up to ash.

"its been a long time ash" he said quietly

"it sure has been tobias, I'm kind of surprised you recognized me so fast" said ash

"well I'll never forget the face of the person to beat all my pokemon" said tobias

"yea well you better not be eliminated too early I want the pleasure of defeating you again" said ash smiling

"don't be so sure ash I have new pokemon with me and I've been training for this rematch" said tobias

"then may the best man win" said ash as he extended his hand toward tobias which he took and they shook hands and then tobias returned to his seat. While he was waiting ash closed his eyes and started concentrating when suddenly he felt an aura he had not felt in such a long time an aura that made him smile but also made him sad, he quickly opened his eyes and saw her walking over to the stage the ceremony was starting but he could not tear his eyes away from her then suddenly he snapped back to reality and heard Mr. Goodshow talking.

"ladies and gentlemen welcome to the tournament of legends, you have all been chosen because of what you have achieved in your time as pokemon trainers, at this time I would like to present you to the winner of the last tournament of legends miss Cynthia White"

"hello and welcome everyone ill keep this short so we can begin, we have the best trainers from every region here competing for the title of best of the best so go out there and try your best" as she said all this ash noticed that she was looking around the crowd as if trying to find someone but when she didn't he saw a bit of sadness and disappointment in her.

Mr. Goodshow then took the microphone and began explaining the rules of the tournament.

"there will be four preliminary rounds, all of which will be three on three battles after that will be the top sixteen which will be double battles of six pokemon each trainer and then finally the quarter finals, semi finals and finals will be six on six, we have decided that the first match will be here in this stadium right after the opening ceremony is over we will randomly pick two names and they will be the first to compete in the tournament everyone else's matches will be posted at the pokemon center after the first match so without further ado lets pick the first two trainers" he said as he pointed towards the big screen at the end of the stadium

Everyone watched as names were alternating on the big screen until suddenly they stopped showing two names one of which was a mystery to all but a group of people and the other which was well known.

"there you have it ladies and gentlemen our first match will be between the frontier brain Brandon and Mr. Red Satoshi both trainers please head to your corresponding locker room and we will call you out when everyone else is in the stands and we have cleared the field" said Mr. Goodshow

Ash heard this and began walking towards the tunnel that lead toward the trainer's lockers room, moments later he was sitting down meditating whit infernape, raichu and lucario next to him, when suddenly he heard a voice coming from the speakers.

"will both trainers please report to the field to start the match"

"ready infernape" asked ash

" always" said infernape with a smirk

Ash returned infernape to his pokeball and headed over to the field, when he neared the end of the tunnel leading to the field he stopped and took a deep breath, looked at lucario and raichu and then without another thought he walked out of the tunnel and to the trainer's box to begin the match. There was an enormous crowd in the stands, everyone who had attended the opening ceremony was here considering there were no matches until after ash's. Everyone in the crowd already thought this match would not last long considering Brandon was one of the toughest competitors in this competition so anyone battling him would be guaranteed a loss. Brandon and ash were each now in their corresponding trainer box and ready to begin, the referee then said

"this will be a three on three battle between frontier brain Brandon and red satoshi, the winner of this battle will advance to the next round in the tournament the first trainer to defeat all three of the opponents pokemon will be the winner….. Begin"

"Regice I need your assistance" yelled out Brandon as he threw a pokeball to the field and then a large pokemon with a body made of ice materialized on the field

Ash took one look at the regice and took infernape's pokeball in his hand and said

"infernape battle ready"

Infernape then appeared on the field, then took a look over at regice and smirked

"regice use ancient power" yelled Brandon

"infernape dig and use overheat" ash said calmly

"regice try to predict where he is going to come up" said Brandon

Ash smirked when he heard Brandon, unfortunately he was wrong on what infernape was doing. Some time had passed and infernape had still not come up, the suddenly regice began screeching in pain. Brandon began looking around to find out what had hurt his pokemon when he noticed the field was starting to heat up and then suddenly flames erupted from underneath the field engulfing regice and intensely burning him and then as if he came from thin air infernape was in front of regice and ash gave a single comand

"flamethrower"

Infernape took a deep breath and let loose a barrage of flames from his mouth and then as soon as it started it was over infernape walked over to his side of the field walking by a fainted regice.

"regice is unable to battle the winner is infernape, green corner send out your next pokemon" said the referee

The whole crowd was in awe when they saw how quickly Brandon's regice had been defeated, Brandon looked shocked too but quickly shook it of and grabbed his next pokeball.

"registeel I need your assistance" yelled Brandon

"registeel vs. infernape….. Begin"

"registeel Zen head butt" said Brandon

"dodge it and then use flamethrower" said ash

Registeel charged at infernape while a white light engulfed him but the moment he was about to hit infernape with the attack infernape stepped to the left making registeel miss by mere inches, then without a second thought infernape shot a massive flamethrower at registeel making the steel pokemon screech in pain.

"registeel quick rock throw" yelled Brandon

Rigisteel turned quickly and shot a barrage of rocks towards infernape hitting the fire ape making him wince but otherwise not causing him much pain.

"infernape extreme speed" said ash

Infernape shook off registeel's attack and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"registeel wait for it to appear and quickly use hyper beam" Brandon said to registeel

" infernape you know what to do, wait for my go" said ash

Registeel was looking around for any sign of infernape when suddenly

"now" exclaimed ash

When ash said this infernape appeared in front of registeel but registeel was ready letting loose a bright orange beam but what happened next shocked everyone but ash, the hyper beam passed right through infernape then ash yelled out

"blaze kick"

The real infernape then appeared above registeel with his right foot set ablaze, he then brought down the blaze kick onto registeel brutally and effectively knocking him out.

" registeel is unable to battle infernape is the winner, green corner please send out your final pokemon"

Brandon was now utterly shocked no one had defeated two of his most powerful pokemon without even loosing one, his infernape wasn't even breaking a sweat yet.

He grabbed his last pokeball and threw it onto the field.

"regirock I need your assistance" yelled Brandon

"regirock vs. infernape….. Begin"

"infernape extreme speed" said ash

Infernape disappeared once again but his time Brandon was ready.

"regirock earthquake" said Brandon

Regirock then stomped his foot down on the ground causing infernape to reappear down on one knee after loosing his balance.

"regirock quick rock tomb followed by hyper beam"

Regirock once again stamped his foot on the ground causing large boulder to rise up in the air and then fall hitting infernape but before it was over regirock charged up a bright orange spehere and fired a hype beam also hitting infernape causing a huge cloud of smoke to rise.

When the smoke cleared infernape could be seen laying on the ground, the referee then began to say

"infernape is un…."

Infernape then began to get up with a huge smirk on his face and then suddenly infernape let out a huge roar making the flames on his head grow immensely and giving him a bloodthirsty look.

Ash smiled, he knew infernape didn't need to use his ability but he knew infernape loved intimidating other pokemon with it and who was he to deny his pokemon a bit of fun.

Meanwhile in the stands a group of people were shocked to see infernape do such a thing, they had seen only one other infernape able to do such thing but up in the champions box a certain blond haired champion was thinking the same thing so she decided that she would have a talk with this trainer after the match.

"infernape extreme speed, get close" said ash

"regirock earthquake" yelled Brandon

Regirock lifted his foot up but before he could bring it down infernape appeared behind regirock.

"elemental combat" said ash

Infernape then growled and built up a mach punch in his left hand, electricity in his right hand, and fire in both his legs letting loose a flurry of punches and kicks against regirock after a while infernape stopped and jumped back to his side of the field watching a nearly fainted regirock.

"okay infernape finish it flare blitz" ash yelled out

"regirock try to get up and use zen head butt"

Infernape spun his head and the flames from his head turned blue and engulfed him and then he began charging towards regirock. Meanwhile regirock was getting up and a white light engulfed his body and he began charging at infernape. The two then collided in the middle of the field creating a huge cloud of smoke, after a few seconds infernape could be seen walking out of the smoke virtually unharmed. After the smoke cleared regirock could be seen knocked out and badly burned in the middle of the field.

"regirock is unable to battle the winners are infernape and red satoshi" said the referee

Everyone in the stands was shocked, they could not believe that a trainer as powerful as Brandon was defeated so easily and by an unknown trainer. Then out of nowhere the crowd began to clap and cheer and one by one everyone joined in until everyone in the stadium was clapping for this unknown trainer. Ash then looked at infernape and said

"good job my friend, lets go get some rest" and then returned him to his pokeball

Ash then began walking to the tunnel and started making his way out of the stadium. When he reached the outside of the stadium there were crowds of people waiting for him. He didn't want this, he wasn't ready for this so he walked outside and let out a loud whistle, then within seconds an ear piercing roar was heard followed by a garchomp landing in front of ash. He patted the large dragon on the head and jumped on his back along with raichu and lucario, then without another thought garchomp took off at amazing speeds and headed to their resting spot but a certain blond champion watched as the trainer sped away and called out her own garchomp and followed him.

Ash's garchomp landed in the large clearing announcing his and ash's arrival causing all of ash's pokemon to come and greet their friend. Ash thanked garchomp for the ride to which garchomp responded by giving ash a gentle bite on his head then charizard stepped up to ash and asked

"how did the match go"

Ash took out infernape's pokeball and let him out.

"he did amazing, at the end he had a bit of fun and activated his ability I can still remember when he first learned how to control it back in sinnoh, okay guys go get some rest ill go see who I'm up against tomorrow later today" said ash

Ash then walked off to the tree where he slept and sat down and started to think.

"what is on your mind master" asked lucario

"seeing her again just brought back all those memories, I still care for her and I never told her" said ash

"then this tournament is your chance to tell her" said lucario

"yea maybe I just wouldn't know what to say last time I talked to her I was accused of harming her pokemon"

Off in the edge of the forest Cynthia was listening to the whole conversation and gasped when she heard this, after all this time she had finally found him and she heard him say he cared for heR and then she heard ash keep talking and once again began listening.

"you never know master what if she feels the same way" said lucario

"you're right lucario maybe I should tell her thanks my friend" said ash as he patted lucario in the head

"Cynthia you can come out now, there's no need to hide" said ash as he turned his head looking towards the forest.

Cynthia then walked out of the forest and into the clearing saying only one word.

"Ash"

"hey Cynthia" he said turning around to look at her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone sorry for being so late in updating but i was on vacation i will try to upload another chapter tommorow. I tried to fix alot of the grammatical errors that were in my earlier chapters. But anyways thanks for reviewing i've gotten great feedback from this story so here it is i hope you enjoy this chapter please review.  
**

"Ash is it really you?" asked Cynthia.

"yea its me" he said.

Cynthia then ran over to ash and threw her arms around him, buried her head into his chest and began crying. Ash then cupped her face in his hands and wiped away the tears streaming from her eyes. Cynthia then looked into his eyes and began to say.

"Ash I don't know how to say this or if it even means anything after all this time but im really…"

"stop Cynthia let me make this clear right now, you have nothing to be sorry for, it wasn't you that caused me to leave, and it wasn't you that turned everyone's back on me. That burden is not for you to carry" said ash.

"but ash I accused you of hurting my pokemon it was my fault you were blamed" she said.

Ash then broke the embrace he and Cynthia were in, this was a hard topic for him to discuss but he took a deep breath and said.

"Cynthia what happened that day was not your fault, you blamed me because you were worried for your pokemon I know how much you care for them and I cannot blame you for something I would have done, none of what happened was your fault you never testified against me you did not betray me you were just protecting your loved ones" said Ash sternly.

"Ash thank you I still feel like all that happened is partially my fault but thank you for saying that" she said and then she began to cry softly.

Ash then walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her resting his chin on her head. She then looked up at him and said.

"I'm sorry Ash I'm just so happy to see you again"

"I'm happy to see you too Cynthia" said ash.

Cynthia then looked around and noticed all of Ash's pokemon.

"Ash are these all your pokemon" Cynthia asked.

"Yep, most of them are the same ones I had when I was younger" said Ash.

"That's impressive, you've really come a long way" said Cynthia.

"Yea I guess, but anyways look I was thinking how about we go catch up over dinner" said Ash.

"It would be my pleasure" said Cynthia.

"Very well just give me a moment" said Ash as he called over Lucario and Raichu.

"Ok guys I'm going to need you to take charge while I'm gone if you guys need anything you know what to do" said Ash.

Both pokemon nodded and went back to their activities. Ash then called garchomp over and said to Cynthia.

"Okay Cynthia ready to go" he said as he climbed atop garchomp and extended his hand toward her.

She nodded and took his hand and a second later they were ready to go.

"Okay Garchomp not too fast remember Cynthia is here too" said Ash.

Garchomp nodded and then let out a loud earsplitting roar to which Cynthia responded by wrapping her arms around Ash's waist, and then Garchomp took off.

A couple minutes later they were landing in town. The both jumped off Garchomp and then Ash thanked him and then told Cynthia

We're going to be in there a while if you want to let your pokemon out.

"I only have my Garchomp with me at the moment" she said.

"Perfect we can let them out to get to know each other while we have dinner" said Ash

Cynthia nodded and let out her Garchomp a few seconds later she was looking over at Ash's Garchomp with a slight blush.

"Ok Garchomp take care of her and have fun, ill call you if I need you" said Ash

Garchomp nodded and walked over to Cynthia's Garchomp and they both flew off into the forest nearby.

Ash then led Cynthia to a nearby restaurant named The Articuno Lounge but before going in he looked at Cynthia and said.

"Remember Cynthia people here know me as Red Satoshi and for now its better if it stays that way, they will all know who I am in due time but for now I don't want them to" said Ash.

Cynthia nodded and they both walked into the restaurant. Cynthia looked around the restaurant, it was a glamorous place with two floors and blue crystal chandeliers and paintings of the ice legend Articuno. They walked up to the front desk to see a young woman barely paying attention to anyone that walked in or out. Ash approached her and said.

"Excuse me miss, table for two please" said Ash.

She then looked up and saw Ash and began checking him out and then said.

"Certainly sir, follow me."

Ash then extended his arm towards Cynthia which she happily took. The girl taking them to their table saw Cynthia with Ash and frowned and kept walking towards the table.

They reached their table and sat down and looked at the menu. After a few minutes the waiter took their order and went to get their food. There was a long silence between Ash and Cynthia mainly due to the fact that Cynthia did not want to reopen old wounds but after a while Ash spoke up.

"how have you been?" asked Ash

"I've been ok, it has been really busy though, there are so many things to do when you are champion of the region: said Cynthia.

"I will keep that in mind when I go for the title" said Ash smiling.

They both laughed and a few seconds later their food had arrived and they begun eating. While they were eating Cynthia looked at Ash and saw how much he had changed over the years. Ash then looked at her and gave her a smile. After a few minutes both were done eating, Ash paid and they walked out of the restaurant with Cynthia's arm still wrapped around Ash's.

They walked for a while making small talk until around sunset they found themselves on a small hill overlooking the town. They stopped and looked around enjoying the peacefulness around them and then they looked into each other eyes. Cynthia looked into those hazel brown eyes and saw the young man that cared about other people and his pokemon, she saw the boy that she fell in love with all those years ago but she also saw pain, pain caused by the people he believed were his friends and pain that in her opinion was caused by herself. Tears then began falling from Cynthia's eyes but Ash wiped them away and looked into her eyes. He still saw the woman he considered a mentor a symbol of what he wanted to accomplish. He saw the woman he felt love for but he also saw sadness, sadness for a burden that was not hers to carry.

Still looking into her eyes Ash began to say.

"Cynthia six years ago I left to get away from the people that brought me pain, I left because the only person that would always be there for me passed away. For six years I had nothing but memories of a life I once lived. But the best memory was one of a brave and beautiful woman, a woman I grew to love that woman is you Cynthia."

Cynthia then smiled as their lips came closer and closer until they finally met and they share a warm loving kiss and as this happened Ash's aura glowed slightly engulfing them both signaling that they were meant to be together.

A while later they were both sitting down with Ash's arm around Cynthia and her head on his shoulder watching the sunset. After some time the sky was dark and it was getting late. Ash looked over at Cynthia and saw that she was asleep. She looked beautiful and so calm so he didn't want to wake her. He picked her up and leaned her on a nearby tree and as to not make any loud noises he called Garchomp using his aura.

A few seconds later two dragons one very large and the one slightly smaller arrived. He then walked over to the smaller one and said

"Hey Cynthia fell asleep and I don't want to wake her would you mind taking us to where you are staying so she can rest."

Cynthia's garchomp nodded so ash went and picked up Cynthia and climbed atop his Garchomp. Cynthia's Garchomp then took off with Ash's garchomp following her.

Moments later they were close to the hotel ash had been given a room to Cynthia's Garchomp flew up until they reached a room on the top floor with a balcony. Ash got off his garchomp and went to open the balcony door which thankfully was unlocked. He then found the bedroom and gently laid Cynthia on her bed he walked out of the room and closed the door and stepped into the living room he found a pen and paper and left a note for her. Ash then stepped back out into the balcony and said.

"Thank you Garchomp, if you both want to spend time together sometime just come and tell me okay" he said looking back and forth between both Garchomp.

Ash said goodnight to Cynthia's Garchomp and jumped on his so they could fly back to the clearing. On the way back he asked Garchomp.

"So did you have fun" asked Ash.

" Yea we had a good time she actually remembered me from back then" said Garchomp

"I'm glad you had fun" said Ash as they were arriving at the clearing.

Garchomp silently landed and ash jumped off. Ash said goodnight to Garchomp to which he responded him by giving Ash a gentle bite on the head. As he walked to where he usually slept Lucario and Raichu joined him.

"Did you enjoy yourself master" asked Lucario.

"Yea it was fun to catch up with her after all this time" said Ash.

"And how did it go" asked Raichu.

Ash looked up at the starts and said "Perfectly"

He then took his place by the tree he sleeps at, Lucario and Raichu doing the same and they slowly fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone sorry for taking so long in updating ive been really busy cause my trainer was very upset i didnt make a certain sporting event going on right now. but anyways i hope you guys like this chapter i tried to put in as much detail as i could so a review would be appreciated thanks everyone.**

The very next day the sun was shinning brightly in the sky, its rays seeping through the windows of a certain blond haired champion. Cynthia slowly opened her eyes taking in her surroundings and then quickly sat up and then remembered what had happened the day before. She remembered how after years of looking she had finally found Ash and how they had spent the rest of the day together, but what resonated in her mind the most was what he had said to her. Ash had told her he loved her and they had shared a magical kiss, it had felt like a dream and she never wanted it to end. That was the last thing she remembered and she was still wondering how she ended up back in her hotel room. She got up from her bed and got ready for her day, she had her first match today and she decided that she would go see ash after it. Cynthia walked out into the living room and found her Garchomp waiting for her so she decided to ask her about last night.

"Hey Garchomp how did I get home last night?" asked Cynthia.

Cynthia's Garchomp then pointed towards the coffee table in the middle of the living room and gave Cynthia a small grin. Cynthia walked over to the table and found a note on it, she sat down and began to read it.

_Dear Cynthia_

_I had an amazing time tonight and I hope you did too. I hope you don't mind, I asked your Garchomp to take me to your room so you could rest. Hope you slept well, I know you have a match tomorrow and I want to say good luck and that I will be there cheering for you. _

_Love _

_Ash_

When she finished reading the letter she smiled brightly now sure that last night wasn't a dream. She quickly read over the note one last time and stopped at the end "_Love, Ash"_, she could help but feel warm when she read those words. She took a glance at the clock and noticed that her match was in a few minutes. She recalled Garchomp into her pokeball, grabbed the rest of her things and headed out. A few minutes later Cynthia was in the tunnel that led to the field waiting for her name to be called. A few more seconds passed and finally the loudspeaker announced.

"Will Miss. Cynthia and Miss. Sarah please report to the field"

Cynthia calmly walked out of the tunnel and onto her side of the field looking around at the stands until she found who she was looking for. There he was sitting in the stands with a Raichu and a Lucario sitting next to him. She was not surprised that his pokemon were so loyal to him, ever since she met him he had a bond like no other with his pokemon. She glanced over at him a shot him a smile and then returned her gaze towards her colleague Flint.

"What a coincidence, but you do know this wont be like those practice battles we have, here I'm not holding back" said Cynthia.

"Same goes for me Cynthia" said Flint.

"Then may the best trainer win" she said as they both nodded at each other.

**An hour later**

It had been an intense battle between Flint and Cynthia and they were both down to their last pokemon. Cynthia had her Garchomp and Flint his Infernape. Garchomp was faring way better than Infernape and he looked like he wouldn't be able to take another attack.

"Garchomp dragon pulse followed by dragon rush!" yelled Cynthia.

"Infernape try and dodge then use flamethrower!" yelled Flint.

Infernape managed to jump to the side at the last second and then shot a flamethrower towards Garchomp making the dragon wince a little. Flint knew that infernape only had one attack left and he wanted to make it count. Both pokemon were glaring at each other when suddenly.

"Infernape full power flare blitz!" Flint yelled.

"Garchomp Giga impact!" Cynthia yelled.

Both pokemon rushed at each other radiating energy and fierceness, then suddenly they collided in the middle of the field creating a huge explosion and a huge cloud of dust. The tension was building as the trainers and the crowd were waiting to see who would emerge victorious but one person already knew. Ash used his aura to sense which pokemon was still standing and smiled when he realized it was Cynthia's Garchomp. The dust slowly began to clear and revealed Garchomp standing over Infernape. The crowd cheered loudly for Cynthia and for the stupendous match they had just witnessed. Both trainers returned their pokemon, walked to the middle of the field and shook hands. Cynthia then waved to the crowd and turned to look at a certain person in the stands who was clapping and smiling at her.

Moments later Cynthia was walking out of the stadium and was met with a huge crowd asking her for autographs, interviews and even dates. This was not what she wanted right now, she had been looking forward to seeing Ash right after her match but now she had to deal with this. So after signing a few autographs and declining the interviews and date requests she headed over to the pokemon center to heal her pokemon.

She entered the center and left all of her pokemon except Garchomp and walked out of the pokemon center. As she walked out of the center's doors she heard someone say.

"Impressive how you dealt with that crowd of people, ill have to try that next time."

Cynthia turned around and saw the person she had been looking forward to being with all day. Instead of yelling his name out loud, Cynthia ran over to ash and enveloped him in a hug. She then looked into his hazel brown eyes and gave a small but sweet peck on the lips.

"Well It's good to see you too Cynthia, great battle you were amazing" said Ash.

"Thank you for being there" she said.

"Are you tired cause I was thinking of taking you somewhere to celebrate your victory" he said.

"No I'm fine, where are we going?" she asked.

"It's a surprise, but before we go do you want to let your Garchomp out I think she and my Garchomp had a fun time yesterday" he said

"Of course, I still can't believe yesterday happened it seemed like a dream" she said as she let Garchomp out.

Ash leaned down and softly kissed Cynthia's lips and asked.

"Does this feel like a dream?" he asked.

"Yes, but it's a dream I never want to wake up from" she said.

Ash called out his Garchomp and told him to take care of Cynthia's Garchomp and that he would call them if he needed to. Garchomp nodded to his trainer and friend and then both dragons lifted off and flew into the mountains.

"Come on" Ash said as he took Cynthia's hand and led her towards a trail leading to the forest.

**A few hours later**

It was a wonderful day in the wild nature of the Sinnoh region. The sun was shining above through the clear blue sky, its rays gently touching the faraway mountain range in the south. Having decided to get away from the city, Ash and Cynthia now found themselves in one of the mountain's wondrous forests.

The narrow path they were on, virtually untouched, led them through the magnificent woods. Cynthia enjoyed the feeling of the fresh, cool breeze on her skin, which protected her from the afternoon heat. She relished in the sensation of soft grass on her bare feet as she trekked alongside Ash, following his lead. His awe was evident on his features. It was difficult for Cynthia not to be amazed herself. The faintly glowing thick foliage of green above offered a comforting shade over them and let in just a few trails of light through, perfectly visible amidst the shadows. The crisp air and the smell of dew made Cynthia feel relaxed and alive. Looking at either side of her, she was able to see the infinite gathering of Sinnoh's plant life continue on for miles. She could make out the distant mist in the humid forest, blurring out the silhouettes of remote trees. Every now and again, the forest resonated with the echoes of a Starly's chirp, adding to the mystical atmosphere of the woods. The occasional gentle breeze even made it magical.

Ash turned his head sideways to look at Cynthia, smiling at her, a gesture that she returned immediately. Ash caught her hand with his and pulled her for a brief kiss. She couldn't help but smile against his lips at the spontaneous gesture. They eventually parted, and after a few moments of looking into each other's eyes, Cynthia let her own wander over their surroundings once more.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" she asked him.

"It really is," he answered, following her gaze towards the farthest reaches of the forest. "I'm glad we were able to have this get-away." Cynthia replied with amusement. She earned herself a teasing grin from Ash, to which he got a playful shove in return.

It had been at least a few hours worth of trekking so far now, as they continued walking on the smooth, grassy path, they found themselves in a rather inscrutable and secluded part of the mountain. The thick forest they were going through only provided a clear look to the other side of the narrow path, while the rest was blotted out by the tall plant life and the cover of leaves above. The wilderness offered a sense of safety and protection, even as they went on even deeper into it. It was a truly pristine location with no trail markers or signs, and it was largely why Cynthia was so excited to be there with Ash, as well as why he had suggested they go to that part of the mountains in the first place. And she was delighted that Ash was enjoying himself too considering everything he had been through. They were discovering more of the beautiful Sinnoh nature together.

The leaves above them slightly shimmered in response to the cool breeze, the green glow in an interesting mixture with the sunlight seeping through and the colorful bushes gathered around the surface.

Cynthia fell out of her reverie and turned to Ash.

"Are you sure we can find our way back?" she spoke, turning her head around to look at Ash with badly concealed worry.

"It is not shameful to admit you are exhausted, Cynthia" he answered teasingly.

"The same applies to you," Cynthia replied in a grin. "It's just that sooner or later we will have to go back."

"All it would take is for us to go back to that marked path we crossed earlier, but if we do get lost I can just call Garchomp to come pick us up" said Ash.

"All right, just making sure," Cynthia said. "But honestly, we will take a break if you're tired, Ash."

"Don't worry, Cynthia" Ash retorted, shaking his head, "I will tell you when I am. Being out here is just so… invigorating."

"Yeah, it really is," she concurred, sighing contentedly as she took in the environment around her once more.

Despite how pleasant and easy of a walk it had been so far, Cynthia did begin to wear herself out a bit, and she looked forward to finding a place for her and Ash to relax in. Maybe they'd find a wide grassy field where she would be able to sunbathe and take a soothing rest in one of the mountain's remotest locations, and share the experience with Ash.

After they made the next pass in the forest on the serpentine path that moved around the trees, Cynthia noticed that Ash had his brows furrowed. His eyes were also squinting towards something glistening in the distance. The dense plant life on either side of them blocked any passage into the depths of the woods, but what was right in front of them was enough to catch their attention, along with the faint splashing sound they heard and its subtle echoes.

Several unusually steep slopes of grass surrounded what appeared to be a large lake. Tall trees around it and above on the nearby hill had their perfectly symmetrical leaves cast a shadow over the body of water, with only a few rays of light penetrating the thick foliage. It was difficult to make out anything more than that from where they were standing, but both Ash and Cynthia had subconsciously picked up the pace in excitement.

As they strode on the faintly moist grassy path, careful not to step on the bushes spread around the smooth brown trunks of the upright trees, the lake revealed itself before Ash and Cynthia. It was rather big in size, reaching the foot of the tall slopes around it. There was a small cascade from the adjacent heights that splashed down on the lake quietly, sending ripples across the perfectly transparent water. Now standing above it, Ash and Cynthia were offered a view towards the even brown floor a long way underneath and the many colorful plants that were scattered along its length. Cynthia gasped at the outstanding reflection of the overhead leaves, adding yet another hue to the many nuances of the water. The subtle rays of light that the trees allowed through made for fantastic luminous effects. The whole scenery before them was incredibly serene and soothing, and the sound of the waterfall wonderfully comforting. A truly gorgeous sight.

"Wow, this is amazing," Ash said with unmistakable surprise in his voice. Cynthia nodded involuntarily in agreement, her lips parted as a result of her own wonder.

"It's incredible! I never expected we would find something like this here," she replied, clearly excited herself.

"Me neither. We could have easily missed this," Ash answered, crouching to see his own reflection in the lake, as well as the glimpses of what lied beneath it. Cynthia bent down next to him herself, and dipped her hands in the warm water, beaming at the sensation of it brushing lightly against her arms.

"I love the water," she said with palpable delight. "It's so soothing. And it's been such a long while since I've swam."

"Maybe it's high time to rectify that," Ash spoke as they shared a glance, smiles on both of their faces.

"You are right. A swim is certainly what the both of us need after our lengthy walk." Cynthia replied, standing up from the water and having another look at the marvel that they just discovered.

"So, is it now okay for me to admit that I _am_ exhausted, then?" Cynthia answered in a grin, going up on her feet again.

"If you want to join me in the water, then you have to," Ash playfully told her.

"It's settled, then," she said, removing her coat and gently putting it down on the grass.

Glancing at the faintly echoing waterfall and the reflected shimmering leaves in the inviting lake, Cynthia was already impatient to get in and wasted no time stripping out of her outfit, eventually leaving only her undergarments on. Ash had discarded his coat and the rest of his outfit, and had put them down next to Cynthia's, and only had his boxers on.

Cynthia's feet were already soaked in the fluid as she neared the deeper part of the lake. After a few seconds of staring at her reflection, she proceeded to dive in, leaping into the water. It was not long before she felt the rush of the liquid make contact with her body, engulfing it in warmth. The ache that she had been feeling as a result of the walk was already being replaced with amazing and soothing sensations refreshing her, the tingles in her slightly numb legs slowly evaporating. Her back, now free of the clothing she had worn before, was gently massaged by the water. All of this was enough for her to already feel at ease, her body in a perfectly relaxed state.

She opened her eyes, letting them adjust for a few moments before focusing on her surroundings, taking note of just how enormous the lake really was, and what it had concealed beneath it. Not even the transparent water could show the many spherical layers of smooth reefs underneath and the lines of plants that stood at their edge. As she began swimming to explore more of the gorgeous scenery, Cynthia relished in how free her body felt, how full of life and energy it was at that moment. Any physical pains she had before were gone, all tensions had disappeared, and she felt amazing just gliding along the water, her eyes registering more of the indescribable beauty around her.

The smooth floor and the rays of light from above that penetrated the water made for a breath-taking lighting effect. It illuminated the very depths of the lake, giving the many colorful plants an additional nuance to them. Each of them had thin, elongated strands that slowly rocked back and forth, and Cynthia could even feel one tickling her feet right below her. The patterns of light that came from the breaks in the thick foliage reached the floor of the lake, making the scene even more mesmerizing than it was before. It was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever laid eyes on.

As Cynthia gently swam down to the edge of a reef, a school of crimson, beautiful pink Luvdisc appeared from behind the gathering of plants. They moved past her to join a few of the Buizel. The fish that had begun amassing near Cynthia hid away once again when the lake resonated with Ash's entry, who had finally went into the water himself.

He wasted no time rushing towards to Cynthia, quickly flapping his legs up and down , one hand at his side while the other she had extended to activate his aura. They were surrounded by an invisible sphere, allowing the two of them to breathe underwater effortlessly. Only the edges of Ash's power were faintly colored in blue, which was enough to illuminate whatever little was still hidden away in darkness. It gave even one more tint of color to the rapturous mixture of shades in the water.

Once Ash could see that Cynthia's eyes had adapted as well, he felt a smile pull at his lips upon watching her bemused expression. The fish had just shown themselves once again, and the entirety of this mystical world she had just witnessed was opened up before him. His own amazement and awe at the sight of it was something she herself was feeling, and now they had the opportunity to unravel it together.

_A few moments earlier…_

Ash watched Cynthia while she walked towards the lake, sinking her feet in the shallow water in her approach. She still wore that beautiful shy smile as she proceeded to stare down at her own reflection. It was not long before she eventually made a joyous leap towards the depths, her hands stretched out on either side of her as she did so. The impact sent ripples across the lake and it caused a few drops of water to lightly splash Ash. He walked up closer himself, already feeling the fluid beneath his feet that lightly grazed him. He let his gaze follow Cynthia's silhouette through the transparent surface. It made for a fascinating sight amid the beams of light that penetrated the water, until she eventually disappeared somewhere even further in the depths. He wanted nothing more than to join her there, and suddenly he had an idea so he held his breath as he subconsciously mimicked the jump Cynthia herself had made seconds ago.

His body was immediately surrounded by pleasant warmth and felt incredibly light as soon as it was completely wrapped up in water. He quickly swam towards Cynthia with one arm at his side and one reaching out towards Cynthia, he touched her and saw her body being engulfed in a bright blue glow. Her brain had hardly registered that when she suddenly felt air drawn up her nostrils. Confusion hit Cynthia like Ash's aura just had. The vision before her had finally cleared up as she looked her boyfriend's way, immediately noticing his reassuring expression and slight nod of his head. On instinct, she let herself inhale, and was astounded to realize that the power that both of them were surrounded by allowed her to breathe. She felt as if he was sucking in air instead of the water that was clearly around them. The smile Ash gave her was enough to confirm it, and she couldn't help but be overwhelmed by what had just happened, still without even given a chance to take it all in.

She turned in the water with ease, now both of her hands on either side of her body, which was still illuminated by Ash's aura. Her two legs were slowly flapping one against the other, which was enough to lead her to the two trails of light that stood in the center of the hidden underwater paradise. Ash felt compelled to immediately follow, completely mesmerized and awe-struck with her beauty and the way his aura gave her a heavenly glow.

He used his hands to propel him towards Cynthia, when he got within inches of her, both of them now found themselves between the pair of rays in the water, which they looked up and down in wonder. The leaves above the lake lit up in response to what must have been an unusually strong wind above the surface, which left its mark in the aquatic environment. Their surroundings now had a dominant Azure tint due to Ash's aura.

Ash and Cyntia shared a blissful smile as an Azurill went by them, followed by an Azumarill. Ash had his eyes glued to Cynthia, who had just done an enchanting whirl in the water, now heading in the direction the pokemon had gone to, and he couldn't help but go after her.

Watching her move around in the water with alluring grace was a bewitching sight. Ash stopped in his tracks, just taking the time to observe the phenomenal blend of the remarkable water life and Cynthia herself, whose presence seemed to complete it in more ways than one. He felt his heart racing as their eyes met once again. On pure instinct, Ash began swimming towards her, his gaze still on hers while she herself approached him. She took his hand in hers as they met in the water, sending a wave of warmth within him. She started leading him towards the spherical reefs of smooth rock that had the shade of amethyst. Even when they reached it, Ash couldn't draw his focus away from Cynthia. He could only register the beauty around her on a subconscious level, insignificant in contrast to how she herself seemed to give it color and life in her movements, made it truly magical.

She had relinquished his hand to swim towards a gathering of underwater bushes of various textures. Cynthia observed the pokemon that floated between their many elongated flowing strands. Opening her hand to touch them, she beamed at the way the tiny creatures glittered when she did. Ash himself reached out to touch the plants, taking note of how smooth and fragile they felt as they lightly brushed against his fingertips.

He ended up trying to catch up with Cynthia again as she headed for one of the lower reefs on the opposite side, doing another entrancing whirl on her way there in her immense enjoyment. Having the time of his life in the water with her, he felt compelled to do the same freeing movement she had just done. He failed rather miserably, tangling his legs together awkwardly in his attempt. Her obvious amusement at the sight did not go unnoticed, and with a grin on his face, Ash found himself playfully chasing after her.

Even as they went on discovering more and more of the beautiful environment in their race in the water, Ash never stopped being amazed in seeing this side of Cynthia. The way she made her way around the schools of pokemon in their pursuit and the natural elegance of her movements was enthralling.

Life around them seemed to have adapted to their presence. The pokemon that appeared out of the lines of plants filled the empty waters as they swam close to the enchanting lights, paying no mind to Ash and Cynthia. The two explored the spherical reefs of the lake, slowly reaching the floor the further they went. The smiles on both of their faces never left either of them during their time in the wondrous waters. Ash couldn't imagine a more magical place for them to be in. The opportunity to share this experience with the one he loved most was a true bliss.

For the first time in a while, Cynthia suddenly brought herself to a standstill. A few moments were needed for Ash to tear his eyes away from her to follow her own gaze and notice a hole in the lowest parts of the reef they had been swimming next to. It was positioned just above the floor of the lake and it was large enough for the two of them to go inside. The dark passageway before them was surrounded by walls of smooth rock that bore the color of amaranthine. A glimpse of mauve light was all that could be seen from their position, and it was at the very end of the narrow thoroughfare.

Ash and Cynthia shared an inquisitive look between themselves. The way they beamed at each other in mutual wonder was enough to understand that both of them wanted to know what was on the other side and were eager to find out.

Cynthia took hold of Ash's hand, which he had already reached out for her on instinct. The contact between them once again sent a thrill through his body, and he was certain that she had felt it herself. Her soft glance at him and the sight of her beautiful eyes made his heart leap.

The glow of his aura was enough to reveal a portion of the passageway as they slowly swam alongside one another in close proximity. Ash found it difficult not to be conscious of her nearness to him in his attempt to focus on their surroundings or the approaching light they were going to.

The colorful plant life that they passed on their way paled in comparison to the beauty of Cynthia's body colored in an alluring blue hue. The exotic nuance was due to the luminous underwater corridor they were now reaching the end of. When they eventually did so, Cynthia turned her head upwards to observe the partially revealed secret locale they had discovered together. She led Ash towards the surface of the water that was visible above them, their hands still intertwined as she did so. She moved with familiar grace, gently and slowly flapping her legs to propel herself forward. But the way her radiant body was illuminated from the subtle ray of light they were heading towards was absolutely spectacular.

His fascination with her was only interrupted when his head eventually found itself above the water. His Aura was broken off as both of them breathed in their first intakes of actual air.

Soon enough, Ash was able to open his eyes and let them examine what he and Cynthia had just discovered, doing his best to keep himself afloat in the meantime. What they were in the middle of was a gorgeous cavern hidden away in the depths of the lake. He heard Cynthia gasp beside him at the sight of the breath-taking combination of colorful tinctures and water textures on the smooth asymmetrical walls. A couple of beams of sunlight stood at the center of the small cavern from the two tiny overhead cracks above, which lit up a part of the green mossy surface above the water. There was also a gathering of teal colored bushes that had tiny glittering water drops on their thin oblong leaves.

Ash and Cynthia's gazes met, both of them having spent some time to take it all in. Their fascination was reflected on their features. Ash watched as Cynthia's eyes twinkled in mirth, a wide smile spread across her face. She did not know that none of this would have been as beautiful to him if it weren't for her presence.

"Ash… This is absolutely incredible," she spoke with a voice full of happiness, one that slightly echoed through the cavern. She breathed heavily, obviously worn out from their time in the water. "I have never been anywhere like this before in my life."

"Me neither," he replied in a whisper, feeling breathless himself from the amazing experience that was threateningly close to overwhelming him. "It's… phenomenal."

Cynthia still had his hand in hers as she led both of them towards a patch of mossy ground in the farthest corner of the cavern. They gradually made their way out of the water, drops of which continued to fall down from their wet bodies. Exhaustion hit Ash like a tidal wave, who only now realized just how much time they had spent swimming together. It was worth it.

Cynthia still had her feet soaked in the lake when she sat down on the smooth surface, pulling Ash down towards her. She leaned back on her arms, her gaze locked in the scenery in front of them. Ash mimicked her position, sitting down close enough to her that their bare shoulders touched, the contact sending a shiver through him. He couldn't keep his heart from pounding way faster than it should have, which seemed to be falling in love with Cynthia all over again.

They had a perfect view of the entire cavern and all of its beauty. The water textures gave it a myriad of shades whose infusion was a spectacular sight to behold, with the color of azure being the dominant one among them.

The two sat together in silence for a while, both of them trying to recuperate. It was not working for Ash, who couldn't get the woman next to him out of his mind.

"All of this… Being here with you… It's miraculous, isn't it?" she spoke in a low, but audible voice.

"It is," he replied after a few seconds of silence of them just looking at each other, until he reached out his hand to lightly caress the side of her face, tracing his thumb along her cheek. "And so are you."

Ash could make out the slightest glint in Cynthia's eyes. The boundless happiness he felt within him was reflected in her face. He found himself incapable of expressing with words just how far his love for her reached and what she meant to him, but he was hoping that she could see it in his own eyes.

Time between them seemed to have stopped. The beauty of the cavern around them was no longer relevant. The echo of running water that they could hear before was deafened. There was only them. During these moments, Ash registered every subtle motion of the woman he loved. Her slightly parted mouth and the hint of lust in her look were both indicative of her apparent anticipation.

Ash could not tell if seconds or minutes had passed until Cynthia eventually raised her body, leaning it towards him. His instinct was already driving him closer to her, as well. Her eyes fluttered shut in her swift approach. He barely had the time to close his own until their lips quickly collided in fervor as they shared a passionate, needy embrace that sent shivers down his spine and once again engulfing both of them with aura.

"I would give everything just to stay here for eternity with you," Ash said to her sincerely. Cynthia could not prevent a blush from spreading across her face at his words.

"Well, we are not in a rush to get back, are we?" she replied, turning her head around to face him and giving him a peck on the lips.

"We certainly aren't," Ash answered with a grin, returning her kiss with a new surge of excitement.

Neither of them knew just how much time was left to enjoy the magic of their discovery, but they were going to savor every second of the experience, Together.

And they would definitely come back.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone I'm so sorry I haven't been publishing chapters lately but I have been really busy rewriting my earlier chapters because, let's face it they kinda suck plus my internet got cut off and well I moved out of my apartment and into a house so yay new house for me and I was waiting until now to get internet but I will finish rewriting the earlier chapters and upload them cause I made some dumb decisions on them so once again sorry and I hope you enjoy this chapter I have another one ready but I kinda want to finish rewriting the first ones before publishing any more what do you think.**

Ash woke up early the next morning and remembered he had a match scheduled for today. He looked around and saw a few of his pokemon resting around the clearing, the rest were most likely sleeping in the woods or had already woken up and were out exploring. Ash decided to go for a walk and begun heading towards the forest and was quickly joined by Raichu and Lucario.

"Hey guys how'd you sleep?" asked Ash.

"I slept well master thank you for asking" answered Lucario.

Ash smirked at his friends courteous manners and then asked.

"And you Raichu?"

"Same here, how about you?" Raichu responded.

"I slept okay, although I am trying to figure out who to use in today's battle" Ash answered.

"I'm sure you will make a good choice master" said Lucario.

"Thank you my friend" replied Ash.

The three of them kept walking through the woods making small talk as the went along when suddenly they saw a small Eevee jump out of a nearby bush. The Eevee saw Ash and quickly rushed over and hid behind him. Immediately after Eevee a Drapion appeared a few feet away from Ash. The Drapion saw the Eevee cowering behind Ash and fired an x-scissor towards them. Quickly without a command Raichu jumped toward the attack and easily deflected it away with an iron tail. The Drapion roared menacingly to which Raichu responded by making spark come out of his cheeks. The Drapion then raised its claws and fired a large number of white needles at Raichu.

"Raichu quick attack" said Ash.

Raichu sped towards Drapion while dodging every single one of the pin missiles. Noticing that Raichu was closing in fast Drapion tried to grab him with her claws but narrowly missed giving Raichu an opening.

"Mega punch" Ash ordered

Raichu jumped up from the ground just below Drapion's head and struck her head fiercely with a glowing fist. The large scorpion like pokemon received the punch and was sent flying backward into a large tree. The Drapion slowly got up and gave Raichu a menacing look before retreating back into the forest.

"Good job buddy" said Ash as he crouched down and petted Raichu.

Ash then turned to the small Eevee behind him and asked.

"Are you okay?"

The small Eevee still looked a little afraid but gave Ash a small nod.

" Good now can you tell me why that Drapion was chasing you?" asked Ash.

Eevee begun to explain and while Ash, Raichu, and Lucario listened intently. He learned that Eevee had once had a trained and that one day her trained had tried to force her to evolve. Ash frowned when he heard this, he despised people who forced their pokemon to do something they didn't want to. Eevee told him that she had tried to tell her trainer that she di not want to evolve yet but her trainer persisted. Then one day she had woken up finding herself alone. Her trainer had abandoned her. She had spent days looking for her trainer but was unsuccessful. Eventually Eevee found herself close to a Skorupi nest, so she went to see if the had any food to give her. Unfortunately just as Eevee was approaching the baby pokemon , the mother saw her and assumed she was trying to harm her children, which led to Drapion chasing her around the forest.

"And then I found you and you know the rest" finished Eevee.

Ash nodded and looked at the small fox like pokemon with sympathy, Eevee then said.

"Maybe if I wasn't so selfish and had agree to evolve I wouldn't be in this whole mess."

Ash looked at Eevee and softly but sternly said.

"Eevee you are not selfish, your trainer was because he tried to make you into someone you weren't. Evolving is your choice and whether you want to or not everyone should respect that decision, you are who you are and no one should force you to change that."

Raichu and Lucario nodded when Ash said that Agreeing with their friend and masters wisdom.

Eevee looked at Ash with admiration and respect.

'Maybe it wasn't her fault' she thought.

She looked at Ash and saw that he was the kind of friend and trainer she had always dreamed of having.

Ash pet the small Eevee one more time and then said.

"Don't worry I'm sure you'll find a great trainer someday."

He then turned around and gestured for Lucario and Raichu to follow him when suddenly he felt something tugging on his coat. he looked back and saw Eevee and kneeled down once again.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Eevee looked at Ash and then at the ground pondering if she should ask him until finally she asked.

"Can… Can I come with you?"

Ash looked at her with a thoughtful look for a few seconds which to Eevee felt like minutes making her slightly regret having asked him such a question and putting him on the spot. Ash saw that Eevee was becoming slightly more nervous by the second and finally decided to give her his answer. Ash smiled and responded.

"It would be a privilege to have you with us Eevee."

Eevee let out the breath she had been holding and then cried out in happiness. Ash reached down to his belt and took and empty pokeball then held it out towards Eevee so he could catch her. Eevee looked at the pokeball and shook her head which took Ash by surprise.

"I want to battle first" she said confidently.

Ash smiled and put the pokeball back on his belt. He could see great things in store for this Eevee so he smiled and said.

"Very well, I only have Raichu and Lucario with me at the moment so who do you want to battle."

Eevee looked at both pokemon trying to decide which one of them she would battle against. They both looked powerful and she would rather go up against Raichu considering he was closer to her size. Eevee gave both pokemon one last look before she pointed her right paw at Raichu.

"Him" she stated confidently.

Ash smiled when Eevee made her choice, she had seen Raichu defeat that Drapion easily and yet she didn't shy away from a battle with him. Yep this Eevee would definitely go far.

Ash looked over at Raichu and nodded. Raichu nodded back and made his way to the opposite side of where Eevee was.

"Okay buddy remember she's new, so for now take it easy on her" Ash said to Raichu.

Raichu nodded once again signaling he understood. He knew that at the moment he would have to use just a small fraction of his power so he wouldn't hurt her but in the future, well that was yet to be seen.

"You may attack first Eevee" Ash stated.

Eevee knew that she could not rush in without a plan, she had seen what Raichu did to that Drapion and even if he wasn't going a hundred percent she knew it would be tough. But then again what fun would there be if everything was easy.

Eevee glared at Raichu and then immediately took off running leaving a faint white trail behind her.

"Dodge it and use thunder shock" ordered Ash.

Raichu waited until Eevee was mere inches from him before he quickly stepped to the left, making Eevee narrowly miss. Raichu then quickly turned and sent a wave of electricity towards her. Eevee felt the shock of the attack just as she skidded to a stop and then turned around to face the mouse once again. Eevee winced due to the electricity coursing through her body before she took off running once again towards him splitting herself into many copies which were all running towards Raichu.

"Raichu find her" Ash stated calmly.

Raichu closed his eyes and begun sensing the area around him and then quickly he opened his eyes to see all the Eevee jump up in the air.

"Counter shield" Ash said to Raichu.

Raaichu quickly begun running around in a small circle while firing a continuous thunderbolt making a large barrier of electricity that separated the Eevee and him. Eevee saw this and panicked but there was nothing she could do, she and her copies were already descending from their jump and would hit the electric barrier. Eevee brace herself and closed her eyes feeling the shock of the electricity a second later. Eevee got up slowly and was wincing from the shock of the barrier. She then calmed down, closed her eyes and begun to sing a short tune. Eevee begun to shine lightly and after a few seconds stopped and now looked rejuvenated.

"Heal bell huh, interesting" Ash said to himself.

Eevee smirked and quickly begun forming a dark sphere in her mouth.

"Raichu block it" commanded Ash.

Eevee released the shadow ball and quickly begun forming another one. One by one Eevee fired off the shadow balls and one by one Raichu kept deflecting them away with his iron tail. Eevee became frustrated once again, none of her attack had hit and she was becoming exhausted. She was trying to think of a way to be able to land a hit on Raichu, and then suddenly she got an idea. She ceased her shadow ball attacks and quickly begon running towards Raichu. He deflected the last shadow ball and saw eevee had begun running towards him. He quickly jumped up and avoided the attack and came down with an iron tail. She got up as fast as she could and begun running toward Raichu again and ended with similar results. Every attempt she made was foiled by her opponent dodging and countering with an attack of his own, but she persisted. With each failed attempt Eevee looked more and more worn out until she looked like she would not be able to stand.

Ash wondered why she continued with this strategy. He could see that Eevee was at the end of her limits. She was now on the opposite side of the field struggling to stand and still looking at Raichu not with anger but something else. Suddenly she was outlined in a faint white glow and that's when Ash figured out her plan.

"Last resort" he said to himself.

Eevee yelled loudly and ran full speed towards Raichu. Ash smiled and then enthusiastically said.

"Raichu iron tail."

Eevee ran faster and faster towards Raichu and yelled out loudly before she and Raichu collided. For a few moments both pokemon were at a stalemate until Eevee pushed with whatever she had left causing a small explosion that sent both pokemon flying back. Raichu quickly recovered and flipped backwards in the air before landing on his four paws. The small dust cloud quickly faded away revealing Eevee barely standing. She looked at Raichu one again with the same look she had been giving him the whole match, a look of admiration. She smile and then softly said.

"You're strong."

And then collapsed from exhaustion.

Raichu raced over to the small fox like pokemon to see if she was injured. When he reached her Eevee slowly sat up and looked at the older pokemon. Raichu looked back at her and then said.

"You did very well, and don't worry one day you will be very strong as well."

Eevee smiled when Raichu congratulated her, she had just met him but she already considered him a mentor. Ash approached both pokemon with Lucario at his side and knelt down and scratched Raichu behind his ears. He then turned to Eevee and said.

"You have an amazing fighting spirit and you are quite strong, I look forward to having you on my team."

He then reached down to his belt and grabbed the same pokeball he had offered her earlier holding it out to her again. This time Eevee held out her paw and touched the ball without hesitation. A red beam surrounded her and withdrew her into the ball it then dinged to signify a successful capture. Ash placed the pokeball on his belt as he stood up and gestured for Raichu and Lucario to follow him. Raichu jumped on Ash's shoulder and Lucario walked by his side.

"She has spirit" said Raichu as the walked back to their camp.

"Indeed, I sensed a strong will in her she will make a fine addition to out team master" commented Lucario.

"Yes but for now remember, she is still young and new I would like for you to introduce her to everyone, make her feel welcome after all she is one of us now" Ash said to the both of them.

"Will do Ash" answered Raichu.

"Of course master" responded Lucario.

The trio walked through the forest for a few more minutes before finally arriving at camp. The moment they walked out of the forest and into the clearing they saw a woman dressed in black with her golden blonde hair flowing gently in the breeze. She was standing at the edge of the pond looking down at her reflection. Ash slowly and quietly walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her slender waist. She jumped slightly in surprise but then sunk into the embrace when she realized who it was. For a few seconds they remained that way looking at their reflections in the pond before he let go and she turned around to look into his eyes.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of you coming to see me" Ash said with a small smile.

Cynthia gave him a mischievous grin and said.

"What do you mean, I came here to see Raichu."

Raichu then jumped off Ash's shoulder and into Cynthia's arms snickering.

"Well then by all means you two have fun" Ash said with the same grin and then turned around and slowly begun to walk away.

He took a feww steps before he felt his arm being grabbed. He turned around to see Cynthia with a warm smile as she said.

"Of course I came to see you silly."

She then wrapped her arms around Ash's neck and closed in for a kiss to which as responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and then slightly bent down to meet her lips. They remained that way for a minute before she gently pulled back and rested her head on his chest.

"So where did you go off to so early?" she asked.

"I wanted to take a walk and think about who I would be using in my match later today but we ran into a situation" he answered.

"What happened?" she questioned looking up at him.

Ash told Cynthia the whole story about how he was walking through the forest and helped an Eevee that was in danger which then decided to join him.

"Awww can I see her?" asked Cynthia with puppy dog eyes.

"Of course you can, I was going to introduce her to everyone anyway and by the way those puppy dog eyes don't work on me" Ash stated while smirking.

Ash took Eevee pokeball from his belt and let out the small pokemon. Eevee looked around and noticed Ash, Raichu, Lucario and a woman she didn't know. Eeve looked at Cynthia and quickly ran behind Ash.

"She's a little timid around new people" Ash explained to Cynthia.

"It's fine I understand, my glaceon used to be timid as well before she evolved" Cynthia responded.

Ash knelt down and petted the small fox like pokemon.

"Eevee I think it's time for you to meet everyone else, what do you think?" Ash asked.

Eevee timidly nodded and stepped out from behind Ash. Ash let out a loud whistle and after a few seconds every one of Ash's pokemon begun coming out of the forest. A minute later everyone was lined up and waiting for Ash to speak. Ash looked over at his pokemon making sure everybody was present and then begun.

"Good morning everyone I hope you slept well because today we have a match and three of you will be battling so I advice all of you to get ready in case you are the one that is picked to battle, but that is not the only reason I called you here. As I've told each and every one of you, we are family and we can depend on one another for anything and everything. And like any other family our will always keep growing so I would like you all to meet Eevee, she is the new member of our family and I know every one of you knows what it is like to be new so show her around and introduce yourself."

Cynthia looked on as Ash addressed his pokemon with such leadership. She was impressed that the young man she had fallen in love with so many years ago had grown into a great man.

Ash turned to look at Cynthia and called Eevee over.

"Eevee there is some one else I would like you to meet, she is also part of our family she is nice, smart and strong just like you her name is Cynthia she's my girlfriend" said Ash as he picked up Eevee and put her in Cynthia's arms.

Cynthia was blushing madly when she heard ash call her part of the family. She was speechless and all she wanted to do was kiss him right at that moment. Cynthia held Eevee in her arms and was looking at the small pokemon until suddenly she jumped up and started licking Cynthia's face.

"I think she likes you" Ash stated.

"The feeling is mutual" she said smiling.

Cynthia then put Eevee down and walked over next to Ash. He called Raichu and Lucario over and said.

"Okay you two I want you to take Eevee and introduce her to everyone so she can get comfortable."

"Right away master" answered Lucario.

"We're on it Ash" Responded Raichu.

"Thanks guys, me and Cynthia are going to relax until its time to go to the arena" Ash told them.

Raichu and Lucario nodded and walked over to Eevee and begun showing her around. Cynthia then quickly grabbed ash and planted her lips on him surprising him. It took him a few seconds until he finally begun to kiss her back and after a few moments the stoped to catch their breath. Ash then looked down at Cynthia with a smile and asked.

"Not that I'm complaining but what was that for?"

Cynthia leaned in close to Ash and whispered to him.

"For making me part of the family."

"You always were, even when you weren't here" he said and then gave her a kiss on the forehead. He then took her hand and they went over to the trees to relax. After some time it was finally noon and Ash knew he had to get to his match so he called his pokemon over and they all lined up in front of him and Cynthia.

"Okay everyone the match will be starting soon so the three that are battling today are Floatzel, Staraptor and Scizor, like I said all of you will have a chance to battle especially in the later rounds, anyway the match is starting soon so we should get going" Ash announced.

He recalled the three pokemon that he had chosen into their pokeball and then said.

"If you guys need me you know what to do so relax the rest of the day I'll be back later."

Ash took Cynthia's hand and they both walked into the forest followed by Raichu and Lucario. A couple minutes later they were standing in front of the stadium talking before the match started.

"So do you know who you're up against?" asked Cynthia.

"Actually now that you mention it no I don't, I guess it will just make the match more interesting" said Ash.

"Well no matter who you're against you'll have no problem" she said.

Ash looked around and noticed that everyone was already in the stadium waiting for the match to start.

"Thanks Cynthia I'll do my best" Ash said as he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss.

"I'll be watching to make sure, remember you promised me we would meet in the finals Ashy" she said to him.

He nodded and the walked into the stadium with Raichu and Lucario at his side. Cynthia then hurried over to the stands hoping she could find a good seat. After a few seconds of looking she finally found a good seat and as soon as she sat down the crowd begun to cheer for the trainers coming out of the tunnel.

Ash walked out of the tunnel and begun to look around until he saw Cynthia in the stands to his left and then turned his attention to the trainer across the field from him. The girl looked to be about seventeen and was approximately five feet tall. She had curly hair that was let down. She wore a dark red sleeveless blouse and a black skirt that reached just above her knees.

The referee walked to his position and yelled out.

"This will be a three on three battle between Red Satoshi and Kara Spencer, the winner of the match will advance to the next round. The first trainer to defeat all three of the opponents pokemon will be declared the winner ready…. Begin!"

The girl tossed her first pokeball revealing a large gecko like pokemon with long leaves on his forearms and another leaf on his head.

"Grovyle!" the pokemon yelled.

Ash grabbed a pokeball from his belt and said.

"Floatzel crush him."


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone once again I'm really sorry I took so long to update since I was out of the country for some time. Before I start I want to address some of the reviews for this story. The first one is simple: there are many people who read the very fist chapter this story and give up on it because of the bad grammar. Trust me I know the grammar was horrible at first but it gets better as the chapters go by and im rewriting those chapters. **

**Secondly: there is a reviewer who asked if he could take the idea of this story and use it. To that I say NO. I am still working on this and there is a lot more to go so thank you for liking my idea for the story but I cannot just give it away. But heck if u want take a few little pieces im sure everyone on this site has been inspired by someone else's story.**

**Now for the rest of my reviewers THANK YOU for reading this I would have never thought this many people would read it but all of you give me inspiration to write and I noticed a lot of you like the romantic parts. Thanks for all the compliments and if you ever want to leave any suggestions leave them in a review or pm me and ill read them maybe it could be in the story. Now back to the story.**

"Floatzel crush him."

Up in the stands a group of people were watching the battle begin when one of them said.

"I hope he gets crushed out there" she said

"May what are you talking about, from what I've seen he's a very good trainer plus he is soooooo cute" said Dawn.

Everyone sweat dropped when they heard the blunette say that.

"You know its amazing how you can adore a guy that insulted us just a few days ago" said Misty to Dawn.

"Shhh the match is starting and I want to study this guy's moves in case I go up against him" said Max.

"He wont even make it to the quarter finals I guarantee it" said May confidently.

Back down on the field the Grovyle was glaring at the pokemon across from him while Floatzel stood there looking unfazed and confident.

"Okay Grovyle lets start this off with bullet seed!" shouted Kara.

Grovyle let loose a constant stream of orange glowing seeds from his mouth towards Floatzel.

"Aqua jet right through them and then use ice beam" Ash stated calmly.

Floatzel nodded understanding what Ash meant. He was quickly surrounded in water and began running through the bullet seed attack. Once he was close enough, Floatzel jumped up in the air and charged up an ice beam attack but did not fire it. Suddenly the jet of water he was in became frozen and begun plummeting towards Grovyle.

Before he could react the frozen Floatzel struck Grovyle in the chest and sent him tumbling backwards. The impact broke Floatzel out of the ice and once again he stood there with a confident smirk.

"Grovyle get up and use quick attack followed by leaf blade" Kara told Grovyle.

Grovyle got up and sped towards Floatzel and extended the blades on his forearms.

"Water pulse on the ground and then use razor wind" Ash commanded.

Floatzel formed a sphere of water in his mouth and then fired it right under himself propelling him up in the air. Grovyle saw this and jumped up to attack. Floatzel flipped in midair and used his tails to shoot a burst of razor sharp wind towards Grovyle who used the blades on his arms to protect himself.

"Perfect, quick use Giga impact!" yelled Ash.

Floatzel quickly surrounded himself in a pinkish energy with golden streaks flowing around it and descended quickly headed for Grovyle, he looked up and saw the attack coming towards him and his eyes opened wide.

"Grovyle you have to get out of there!" yelled Kara.

But it was too late, Floatzel's attack landed a direct hit and sent Grovyle rocketing towards the ground making a large crater when he landed. Floatzel landed gracefully on the ground and dusted himself off.

"Grovyle please get up this is our chance, use a full power energy ball" Kara worriedly pleaded.

Grovyle slowly got to his feet and formed a large green energy ball in his mouth. Ash shook his head slowly and then said.

"Use water pulse and follow it with ice punch."

Floatzel formed a large sphere of water, fired it into the air and jumped after it. Kara looked shocked, Floatzel shouldn't have been able to attack so soon after that Giga impact but regained her composure and yelled.

"Fire now!"

Grovyle fired the energy ball at Floatzel who was high up in the air and stood still waiting for it to hit. On the other side of the field Floatzel was high up in the air right behind the sphere of water he formed earlier. Floatzel charged his fist up with an ice punch and struck the water pulse freezing it and sending it plummeting towards the energy ball. In the middle of the field both spheres collided and exploded forming a cloud of dust around the field. Ash took this opportunity and gave Floatzel one last order.

"Aqua jet followed by ice beam, finish it."

Floatzel nodded and took off into the cloud of dust, seconds later a pained cry was heard and Grovyle flew out of the cloud of smoke into the opposite wall.

"Grovyle is unable to battle the winner is Floatzel red trainer please sent out you next pokemon!" yelled the referee.

The whole crowd erupted when they saw Floatzel walk out of the dust cloud unharmed. Kara returned her Grovyle and looked across the field to her opponent praising his pokemon and then returning it to its pokeball. She reached down to her belt and took a pokeball in her hand and threw it out onto the field.

"Luxray show them your power!" she yelled.

Up in the stands a group of people were talking about what had just happened.

"Did you see the way that Floatzel controlled the battle" Max said excitedly.

"Max! why are you praising this guy, are you forgetting that he insulted you and your pokemon just a few days ago!" May shouted at Max.

May saw max wasn't listening and became infuriated. Misty sighed and shook her head but then she noticed Brock seemingly lost in thought.

"Brock are you okay?" she asked snapping Brock out of his thoughts.

"Huh, oh yea I'm okay, just thinking about something" he said.

Everyone was now looking at Brock when Dawn suddenly spoke up.

"What are you thinking about Brock?"

"Did guys notice the very first attack that Red's Floatzel made" Brock stated.

"Yea it was an aqua jet" replied Misty.

"Yes but what did it do after that?" asked Brock.

Everyone begun to think trying to recall what Brock was talking about when suddenly Dawn yelled out.

"It froze it!"

"Exactly Dawn, he froze the Aqua jet just like…." Brock begun to say.

"Ash used to" Dawn finished sadly.

"Figures, he cant come up with his own strategy so he steals them from other people, he doesn't deserve to use Ash's moves!" May yelled out furiously.

"Calm down May, he could've learned that move from anywhere now settle down" said Misty.

May sat down outraged at what she had just learned and went back to looking at the battlefield.

"Look, Red is picking another pokemon, good thing he switched out Floatzel considering Luxray is an electric type" declared Max.

Back down on the battlefield Ash was looking across the field to the Luxray his opponent had called out and smirked. He took a pokeball in his hands and yelled out.

"Staraptor take flight!"

Kara looked at the large bird pokemon and then yelled out across the field.

"Apparently you don't know that flying pokemon are weak to electric types"

Ash looked at her and then motioned for her to make the first move.

"Luxray lets end this quick, thunderbolt!" Kara yelled.

"Take it and then use wing attack" Ash said calmly.

Everyone was shocked to hear him say that but Staraptor obeyed his trainer with complete trust. Staraptor hovered feet above the ground and received the thunderbolt head on wincing slightly but then quickly took off towards the Luxray glowing gold with the effects of the thunderbolt and then struck the Luxray with its wing attack. Staraptor then returned to his side of the field still glowing gold from Luxray's attack.

"There it is again, Ash once used that same strategy in Hoenn in a gym battle" exclaimed Brock.

May was now overly outraged, this guy was stealing Ash's strategies to the letter.

"Staraptor use tailwind and get close!" Ash yelled.

Staraptor flapped his wings causing a huge tailwind to carry him upwards, and then at the peak of his flight he turned upside down and descended at high speeds pulling up just before he hit the ground and flying directly at Luxray.

"Quick Luxray use wild charge" Kara shouted.

Luxray became enveloped in a light veil of electricity and began running towards Staraptor. The attack looked like a volt tackle but was nowhere near the power of such an attack.

"Wait for it" Ash said calmly.

The two pokemon sped towards each other and when they were mere feet from each other Ash yelled out.

"Now!"

Staraptor leaned slightly to the right making Luxray miss by just inches.

"Staraptor use tailwind once again and follow with brave bird!" Ash shouted.

Once again Staraptor flew up high and descended even quicker than before now being carried by two tailwinds. He descended at high speeds now glowing a dark blue.

"Luxray look out" Kara yelled out.

But Luxray did not have time to look behind him before Staraptor struck him with the brave bird attack sending him tumbling across the field. Staraptor then landed in front of Ash no longer covered in electricity and spread his wings letting out a loud cry.

"Luxray quick attack and use thunder fang" Kara yelled out.

Luxray quickly made his way to Staraptor and bit his wing with electrified fangs. Staraptor cried out in surprise but then heard Ash give him a command.

"Staraptor close combat."

Staraptor hit Luxray on the side of its head with his free wing breaking free from the thunder fang attack. He then began to plummet Luxray with a flurry of hits from his wings and talons.

"Luxray thunderbolt" Kara screamed.

"Dodge it and use steel wing!" Ash shouted.

Luxray fired a bolt of electricity toward the now airborne Staraptor but missed by inches allowing Staraptor to close in on Luxray.

"Iron tail now Luxray" Kara commanded.

Luxray flipped up in the air making Staraptor narrowly miss and quickly struck Staraptor with his hardened tail. Staraptor slid across the ground picking up dust but quickly flew up again by pushing against the ground with his wings.

"Thunderbolt once again Luxray!" Kara yelled.

Luxray shot another thundebolt at Staraptor which he once again dodged.

"Keep going Luxray" Kara said.

"Staraptor time to finish it, fly low and advance!" Ash yelled.

"Perfect" Kara said to herself

"Luxay wild charge full power!" she exclaimed.

Luxray once again became covered in a veil of electricity and ran towards staraptor.

"This time there's no escape, Staraptor Giga impact send him flying" Ash stated.

Now only a mere five feet from each other both pokemon yelled out and collided causing a huge explosion. Seconds later Luxray came flying out of the top of the smoke cloud followed by Staraptor. Kara was speechless until she noticed that Luxray was unconscious and rapidly falling toward the field.

"Luxray, NOOOO!" she screamed.

"Catch it" Ash ordered

Staraptor dived rapidly and caught the unconscious pokemon on his back. The large bird flew down to midfield, set Luxray down gently and returned to his trainer's side.

"Luxray is unable to battle, Staraptor wins red trainer please send out you last pokemon" Shouted the referee.

Kara looked on in shock at what had just happened. A pokemon who should have clearly had a disadvantage against her won by a landslide. She looked up again as she heard someone talking to her.

" I guess you didn't know it takes more than types advantage to win a match" he said from across the field as he was stoking his Staraptor's feathers.

He had defeated two of her pokemon without him even loosing one. She saw her opponent return his Staraptor to his pokeball after thanking him and then grabbed another signaling that he was ready to continue.

"There's no way I can win this now but im not going down without a fight" Kara thought.

She drew one last pokeball from her belt and tossed it onto the field.

"Tyranitar show them your power" she yelled enthusiastically.

Ash looked at the pokeball in his hand and with one smooth flick of the wrist he tossed it out onto the middle of the field and said.

"Scizor finish this."

From the pokeball emerged an abnormally large Scizor. But this was no ordinary Scizor, the Scizor was a golden greenish color with dark green streaks in small parts of his body. Scizor let out a large cry after seeing his opponent and got into a battle stance. Kara was determined to at least defeat one of Red's pokemon. And if anyone could it would be Tyranitar.

"Tyranitar use Dark pulse!" Kara yelled enthusiastically.

"Cancel it out with night slash and follow with vacuum wave" said Ash.

Tyranitar fired a dark stream of energy towards Scizor who surrounded his right claw eith a similar dark energy and slashed through the attack. Scizor then reared his claw back and punched the air fiercely. After a second Tyranitar grunted and slid backwards from the strength of the attack.

"Tyranitar use stone edge" she exclaimed.

Tyranitar fired a barrage of sharp rocks towards Scizor to which Ash responded by saying.

"Scizor hold your ground."

Scizor nodded and followed its trainer's commands. He braced for the attack with claws crossed in front of him receiving every single sharp rock that was thrown. After a few seconds Tyranitar ceased fired and Scizor let down his arms showing that he was fine.

"Scizor swords dance and then extreme speed" Ash ordered.

Scizor was enveloped in a blue glow and then immediately vanished into thin that she couldn't see Scizor Kara yelled.

"Tyranitar earthquake."

Tyranitar lifted its foot up and then slammed it down hard on the ground causing the field to shake, but Scizor was nowhere to be seen until suddenly.

"Bullet punch" ordered Ash.

Scizor instantly appeared behind Tyranitar and began to assault Tyranitar with a barrage of punches all making the pokemon cry out in pain.

"Tyraniter use dragon claw" Kara shouted alarmingly.

Tyranitar's claw begun to glow, but before launching her attack Ash yelled.

"Block it, use metal claw followed by brick break!"

Scizor used his metal claw to block the attack and struck her with the other in the chest pushing Tyranitar out to the middle of the field.

"Use x-scissor" Ash said.

Scizor crossed his arms and then fired the attack towards Tyranitar.

"Tyranitar use dark pulse followed by rock slide" said Kara.

Tyranitar fired the dark pulse at the x-scissor and then slammed her foot on the ground causing chunks of rock to fly up and come down on Scizor.

"Use earth power now!" Kara shouted.

Once again Tyranitar stomped her foot on the ground but this time a tower of flames erupted right under Scizor making cry out in pain.

"Okay Tyranitar rock polish followed by dragon claw." Kara said with renewed confidence.

Across the field Ash was watching and waiting for the right moment to strike, and it had finally arrived.

"Block it" Ash stated as he watched the Tyranitar approach his Scizor.

Once again Scizor raised up one glowing claw and stopped Tyranitar's attack dead in its tracks. Scizor then raised his other claw and fired a large silver beam from it sending Tyranitar flying backwards.

"Tyranitar use sandstorm" Kara ordered.

Tyranitar lifted its arms up and begun to raise sand from around the field until eventually a sandstorm ws raging all around them.

Ash sighed, shook his head and then gave Scizor a small nod which the pokemon returned.

Scizor knew exactly what Ash meant and then closed his eyes and begun to feel the enviroment around him. Since all of Ash's pokemon were trained to use aura Scizor could sense where everything was around him. Ash did the same and was now able to see everything around him using his aura vision.

"Scizor get in close and use bullet punch" he told Scizor through his aura.

Scizor closed in on Tyranitar and begun to throw endless amounts of punches at it untilhe heard Ash once again.

"Flash cannon."

Using both claws this time Scizor fired an enormous beam of silver energy at Tyranitar sending the giant pokemon flying back. No longer able to keep up the sandstorm from her exhaustion slowly it began to dissipate making the field visible once again. On one side of the field was Scizor standing proudly with his arms crossed. On the other side was an exhausted Tyaranitar barely able to stand.

"Impressive, Scizor charge up metal claw" Ash stated.

Scizor uncrossed his arms and readied the attack.

"Tyaranitar you can do it come on, use hyper beam!" Kara yelled worriedly.

Tyranitar roared loudly, looked at Scizor and immediately collapsed.

"Tyranitar is unable to battle, the winner of this match is Red Satoshi" the referee yelled out.

Scizor canceled his attack and walked back over to Ash. Ash looked at Scizor and put his hand on Scizor's shoulder and then said.

"Thank you Scizor you did great."

Ash returned Scizor and looked across the field to his opponent

"You should know when your pokemon are at their limit or else they could get hurt, and trust me not everyone will hesitate to attack like I did" said Ash sternly.

She looked at Ash and then at her Tyranitar with tears in her eyes. Ash then turned around and walked off the field wit Raichu and Lucario at his side.

Ash kept walking until he reached the outside of the arena. Surprisingly there were no paparazzi or interviewers waiting for him, but he had a good idea why that was. He begun walking towards the forest and was joined by Cynthia. She wrapped her arms around his right arm and said.

"You did great in there like always."

"Thanks" Ash replied with a small smile.

"We have the rest of the day free what do you want to do?" asked Cynthia.

" We could take a walk around, I haven't explored the city since I got here" answered Ash.

" That sounds like a good idea" responded Cynthia.

"Okay then just give me one second" said Ash and turned to Raichua and Lucario.

"Hey guys you can go and relax the rest of the day, make sure these guys get a good rest plus I need you two to check how Eevee is doing" he said as he handed them his pokeballs.

They both nodded and took off towards the forest.

"Okay then shall we?" asked Ash offering his arm to Cynthia.

She happily nodded and once again wrapped her arms around his as the two begun their tour of the city.

**Hours later**

"That was delicious!" exclaimed May as the grop was walking out of a local restaurant

"Yeah we could tell by how much you ate" declared Max.

The brunette smacked her brother in the back of the head and sternly said,

"You better not be calling me fat."

"May calm down you're causing a scene" Misty scolded.

Misty then turned back to Brock and noticed he was deep in thought.

"Brock are you okay you barely talked at all during dinner?" she asked.

"I'm fine I was just thinking about Red's match earlier" he replied.

Before misty could say anything May immediately yelled out.

"Don't talk about that jerk!"

"Calm down May, theres no need to shout every time you hear the guys name" Misty hissed.

"Hmph, he' still a jerk" said May under her breath.

Misty rolled her eyes and turned back to Brock.

"Don't give it too much thought Brock, even today a lot of people watch matches from back then its possible some people have adopted some of his battle strategies." stated Misty.

Off to the side may was muttering.

"Why cant they come up with their own strategies."

Misty shot may a glare which made her huff and quiet down again.

"You're right Misty , I'm probably over thinking it thanks' said Brock.

"Don't worry about it, now how about we get back to looking around the city?" Misty suggested.

The group kept walking through the city enjoying the many attractions until they notice it was becoming late and the streets were less crowded.

" Well everyone I think it's time we head back it's getting dark and max has a match tomorrow" Brock stated.

Everyone agreed with Brock and begun heading to the pokemon center until Dawn suddenly stopped when she saw a certain blonde haired champion standing next to a fountain looking up at the sky.

"Hey isn't that Cynthia" proclaimed Dawn.

The whole group turned and saw the blonde haired beauty standing by the fountain as if waiting for someone.

"We should go say hi to her" suggested Dawn.

The whole group quickly agreed and Brock was quickly beginning to make his way towards Cynthia until he suddenly felt an intense pain at his left ear.

"Don't you think about it Brock, we are going over there to say hi not so you can flirt with her" reprimanded Misty.

Brock nodded and the group begun making their way over to Cynthia. They noticed a man approach Cynthia which they instantly recognized as Red. They were utterly shocked when Red approached Cynthia, wrapped his left arm around her and handed her a rose, but nothing could prepare them for what they saw next. The watched as Cynthia wrapped her arms around him and leaned up to kiss him. None of them could believe their eyes, they stood there frozen with surprise until Dawn noticed they were walking away and ran after them.

**Minutes earlier**

The couple was walking along the streets now enjoying the nightlife the city had to offer. They had started off by walking through the city occasionally stopping at a few places that caught their eye. Many people looked surprised to see the Sinnoh champion and one of the tournaments top competitors together but luckily enough no one disturbed them. They had then enjoyed a great lunch at one of the many restaurants in the city. After lunch they wasted no time in continuing to explore the city and even enjoyed some ice cream after Cynthia decided on a flavor. And now here they were simply enjoying each other's company. The couple noticed it was becoming late and they both had matches scheduled for tomorrow. They decide to spend a few more minutes walking around before calling it a night. They walked until they came upon a fountain with an amazing design. The fountain featured the creation trio standing back to each other with a platform rising from the middle with Arceus proudly standing on it. Cynthia was admiring the fountain while Ash looked at her with a smile.

"Amazing isn't it?" asked Cynthia.

"Sure is" Ash simply responded.

Cynthia noticed Ash was looking at her and realized he was referring to her. Cynthia begun to blush and said.

"Stop it you're making me blush."

Ash wrapped Cynthia in a loving hug and softly whispered.

"you look cute when you blush."

Ash then saw something on the other side of the street and quickly said.

"Wait here I"ll be right back."

He begun heading to the other side of the plaza they were in leaving Cynthia to wait by the fountain. A few seconds later she felt an arm wrap around her and saw a beautiful red rose being handed to her. He then leaned in and whispered to her.

"Every second with you is a second in paradise."

Cynthia then turned, wrapped her arms around him and gave him a deep and loving kiss. They separated after a few seconds and begun walking back to the hotel having decided to call it a night. But the night was not over yet.

"Cynthia! Cynthia wait up!" yelled out Dawn.

Ash's body immediately tensed up at the sound of that voice. Cynthia quickly noticed the change in Ash's attitude and turned to see who was calling out to her. What she saw shocked and angered her, here they were every single person that had changed Ash's life years ago.

"Hey Cynthia how's it going?" asked Dawn.

Cynthia looked at Ash who had his head hung low hiding his face in darkness and then turned back to Dawn.

"You need to leave right now" She sternly commanded.

The whole group was shocked at what Cynthia had just said.

"Wait what, are you okay? Is everything alright?" asked Dawn.

Cynthia took a look at Ash and could feel the anger radiating from him.

"I am not going to repeat myself again, leave now!" she ordered.

May suddenly became very angry and stomped over to Cynthia.

"We don't talk for years and then you tell us to leave for no reason I thought we were friends, I see hanging around him has made you just like him" she said pointing at Ash.

Cynthia was now enraged and was ready to let that rage out on them.

"Friends!? I've seen what you do to your friends or have you all forgotten what you did six years ago" she yelled.

The group of five immediately became quiet and sadness could be seen on their faces but Cynthia was not done yet.

"You betrayed the one person who would have done anything and everything to help you no matter the situation, but when it was your turn to help him you condemned him" she yelled exasperated.

Misty had tears in her eyes and cried out.

"We were scared ok, we were scared of what would happen to us if we sided with him, we were young and there was nothing that proved he was innocent. We regret that decision every day!"

"You did not deserve him as your friend, he deserved better" Cynthia declared now with tears streaming down her face.

**Ash's POV**

He had hoped to not see them again but now here they all were, every person that had been there six years ago was once again standing around him. Then it started, the subject he had been trying to avoid came up. Moments from that day begun flashing before his eyes and all the anger he had been suppressing for years was surfacing again. The longer the argument continued the more his anger grew. On the outside he looked calm and collected but inside he was fighting an internal battle. He would not let his anger control him, it had happened before and he could not risk hurting the woman he loved. And then he heard those words. 'We were scared of what would happen to us' with those words his anger begun to overcome him and now he had to get away from here before he lost control.

**Meanwhile**

All of Ash's pokemon had turned in for the night, all except one. Lucario was seated down on the grass with his legs crossed, meditating while he waited for his master. Suddenly he felt an immense wave of anger and pain wash over him. He had only felt such a thing from a single person before and immediately realized what this meant. He felt it once again stronger this time and quickly took off running in the direction of the city.

"Please hold on master, I am coming" he worriedly said to himself.

"I have to go" Ash stated through gritted teeth and begun heading towards the forest.

"No wait" pleaded Cynthia as she reached out and grabbed his arm.

Ash looked back at Cynthia with anger, pain and sadness all apparent on his face.

"Please let me go" he said as calmly as he could.

She let his arm go and within a matter of seconds he disappeared into the forest. Cynthia stood frozen looking towards the forest in the direction Ash took off. She then heard a deafening roar and looked up to see her and Ash's Garchomp. Both Garchomp descended and landed next to Cynthia. Ash garchomp then saw the group of people and roared angrily at them and begun snarling at them.

"Leave before you anger me or Garchomp anymore" said Cynthia.

They quickly turned and left leaving Cynthia looking towards the forest in the direction Ash had ran in.

Lucario was nearing the edge of the forest when he heard a very familiar roar. He sped up and after another minute he emerged from the forest and saw his masters mate and both Garchomp. He wasted no time and quickly ran over to them.

"Lucario what are you doing here?" Cynthia asked surprised.

"I am looking for my master, where is he? Where did he go?" asked Lucario exasperated.

"Wait what's wrong, is everything okay?" she asked nervously.

"I need to get to him as soon as possible, he's in danger" Lucario stated alarmingly.

Cynthia instantly became shocked and gasped.

"Which way did he go?" asked Lucario.

Cynthia pointed in the direction Ash took off in and Lucario quickly turned to Garchomp and said.

"Lets go I need your help."

Garchomp quickly nodded and got down allowing Lucario to jump on his back.

"Wait let me help you, please" Cynthia pleaded.

"I am sorry but no, I cannot allow you to get hurt he would be crushed and he would never forgive me" he said and then signaled Garchomp to take off.

The enormous dragon pushed his legs upwards with great force and took off into the sky heading towards the forest with Lucario standing on his back. Cynthia was now immensely worried about Ash and decided that she would not stand here and do nothing, she was going to look for him.

"Lets go Garchomp, we're going to find Ash" Cynthia declared.

Garchomp instantly got down and let Cynthia climb on her back. Cynthia climbed on and they both took off heading towards the forest.


	9. Auld Lang Syne

**Okay well I know I've been gone for a couple moths guys but I've been really busy. But that is no excuse you all deserve better and I am sorry for not providing that so for all the wait I made you endure here is my longest chapter yet. But before that I want to respond to some comments.**

**There is a reader who signs in as a guest all the time and gives me amazing reviews. If that's you than thank you very much, your comment made me want to push out this chapter even faster. See people this is why comments are good.**

**Olaf74:ive read many of your stories and many were inspiration for this and I'm glad you like mine I hope you keep reading thank you.**

**God people,Jd9393, Epic reads, Drake and many more of you thank you so much for reading and commenting I always love opening those reviews. They keep me writing and make me happy.**

**Monkey Epoxy: Its very simple if you don't like the story then move on no one is forcing you to read it. a lot of people seem to like it, the fact that you don't maaters nothing to me.**

**Okay well I've kept you long enough remember to keep reading everyone. There is still a long way to go on this story arc and I can guarantee you that we have not even scratched the surface.**

Lucario and Garchomp had been flying for about half an jour before Lucario finally spoke up.

"We are getting close, now would be a good time to go over the plan."

Garchomp nodded and begun looking around the forest with hopes of spotting Ash.

"When we find him I will need you to land a safe distance away, I will go try to calm him down and get him back to camp though it may not be that easy. The moment I am gone I will need you to head back the way we came, your mate and her mistress are looking for us and our master and if they find us they could get hurt. When you find them get them back to camp and wake Faith up, tell her it is an emergency and to be ready" explained Lucario.

Garchomp nodded his head acknowledging he understood the plan and continued to search for Ash. Suddenly an explosion went in the forest drawing their attention.

"Over there, ready?" asked Lucario.

Garchomp nodded and begun to descend until he landed in the forest. Lucario immediately jumped off garchomp back and looked in the direction were the explosion occurred. Garchomp begun getting ready to once again take off until Lucario spoke up.

"Garchomp."

The large dragon immediately turned and looked at his friend seeing worry in his eyes.

"If I fail find him, and save him" said Lucario.

Brief and simple words but Garchomp understood. He walked up to Lucario, place his right claw on Lucario's shoulder and nodded. He then turned around and took off into the sky to complete the tasks his friend had set for him.

Lucario looked towards the direction Ash was in and closed his eyes. He needed to conceal his aura as much as possible so he could get close to Ash and try to calm him down. After a few seconds he reopened his eyes and quickly jumped up to a tree and begun jumping from tree to tree towards Ash's direction.

"Ingrates!" Ash yelled as he punched a tree until nothing but twigs were left.

He could feel his anger building up more and more with each passing second. He hated them to no end for it, he wanted to make them feel real pain. He would make them feel real pain and no one would stand in his way. Suddenly he stopped and begun looking around, he could feel someone's energy close by. He quickly honed in on the energy signature and hurled an aura sphere towards it. The sphere exploded but Ash still felt the energy emanating from the intruder.

"I know you are here, stop being a coward and face me!" Ash yelled out.

Almost immediately a large blue sphere came out from the trees headed straight towards Ash. The sphere exploded mere inches in front of Ash and caused dust to fly up and cover him.

"Is that the best you can do?!" Ash yelled out.

He turned around quickly when he felt the same energy behind him. Instinctively he blocked the many punches and kicks that were thrown at him before the mysterious figure jumped backwards separating itself from Ash. A few seconds later the dust cloud dispersed and revealed Lucario standing across from Ash with a bright blue staff in his hands. Lucario looked at Ash and felt all the emotions that his master had tried to suppress for many years radiating from him. This was not his master, not at the moment.

"You must stop this now, clear your head and let me help you" stated Lucario.

"I don't know who you are or what you want but you will not stop me"

"Then I have no choice, I made a promise and I will hold to it" said Lucario as he assumed a battle stance.

"So be it, I will teach you not to meddle in my business" Ash declared as he suddenly became engulfed in black energy.

Garchomp flew through the sky thinking about what Lucario had said. Ash had gone through this before and Lucario had been able to help him, why would this time be any different. Garchomp believed in Lucario he knew he would be able to help Ash. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and picked up speed hoping to find Cynthia and his mate soon.

The fight had only been going on for a few minutes but the area around both Ash and Lucario told a different story. The ground was shattered in many places and there were craters scattered around. The forest had nor fared any better. All around them lay charred and broken trees. Yet none of this seemed to phase either of them.

"You are a skilled fighter, you would do well to join me" Ash called out.

"I already have a master and I made a promise to him to stop you" Lucario responded.

"Then you will fail" Ash stated as he rushed towards Lucario.

Garchomp kept trying to find any sign of Cynthia and her Garchomp but was unsuccessful until he suddenly heard a roar not far off from where he was and rushed to see if it was them. Suddenly he heard another roar but it sounded different. He looked around until he saw something down in the forest. He saw his mate and her mistress but they were in trouble. A pair of Tyranitar had them trapped, and Cynthia's Garchomp looked exhausted and injured and her mistress was unconscious. Garchomp quickly dived down towards the ground and landed in front of them making the ground shake and then looked at both Tyranitar and unleashed a ferocious roar. Both Tyranitar roared as loud as they could but could not measure up to Garchomp's roar. Both Tyranitar then sent dragon claw attacks toward Garchomp. When he saw this he immediately reacted and brought up the fins on his arms to block the attacks. As soon as both attacks hit, Garchomp pushed one of the Tyranitar off and fired a dragon pulse towards it and then quickly hit the other with a brick break attack sending them both tumbling backwards. Both Tyranitar got up and begun charging hyper beam attacks. Garchomp responded by giving a loud roar and became engulfed in purple energy. He then rushed towards both Tyranitar who were now ready to fire their attack. The twin hyper beam attacks hit Garchomp but did not slow him down in the slightest. Suddenly Garchomp collided with both pokemon making a big explosion. The dust cleared and Garchomp could be seen looking down at both Tyranitar and after a few seconds he walked back to his mate leaving both pokemon on the ground unconscious. Garchomp begun looking over his mate to find out if she was okay and then asked her what happened. According to Cynthia's Garchomp, while they were looking for him and Lucario they stopped to take a break when suddenly the two Tyranitar had attacked without warning. Her mistress was knocked unconscious and she tried to protect her and hold the Tyranitar back. Eventually they overwhelmed her and became injured.

Garchomp listened to her whole story and when it was over he walked over to Cynthia and place her on his back.

"Go inside you pokeball and get some rest, ill take you two back to camp and we can help you there" Garchomp declared.

Cynthia's Garchomp nodded and walked over to her pokeball on Cynthia's waist but before pressing the button she asked.

"Is Ash okay?"

Garchomp looked at her with worried eyes and responded.

"I don't know."

"You could have joined me, but instead you chose to fight. I will give you one final chance to give up, I advise you to take it" Ash stated.

Lucario was struggling to stand on his own, his whole body ached and he did not know how much longer he could continue. All the training he went through, all the pain he endured, had it all been a waste. Lucario then looked at Ash noticing he was fairing better than him but had not walked away unscathed. No, he made a promise to his master and he would die before breaking it.

"I will never give up!" yelled Lucario as his aura flared around his body and he regained his battle stance.

Ash looked at the jackal standing across from him and declared.

"Such a waste of power, you had so much potential but if you will not surrender than you will die."

Ash dashed towards Lucario and threw a punch towards his head which the jackal narrowly dodged. Lucario countered by kicking Ash on his left side and followed up with a barrage of punches to the midsection. Ash quickly recovered and began to block the majority of the punches and once he saw his opening he attempted to sweep Lucario off his feet. Lucario quickly noticed this and jumped backwards to avoid it. Without using time to catch his breath Lucario vanished from the spot he was in and instantly appeared behind Ash. He sent another kick into Ash's midsection and vanished again repeating the process. Every time Lucario disappeared Ash tried to focus on where the next attack would come from but Lucario came and went too quickly and the more damage he took the more effort it took to focus. Lucario continued his barrage of attacks hoping that Ash would go down soon because he knew he could not keep this up much longer, fatigue and all the damage he had taken would eventually catch up. Then from out of nowhere lucario felt it, he appeared yet again hoping to take Ash by surprise but immediately felt an immense pain on the side of his body and that small window was all Ash needed. He turned and punched Lucario on the side of his head and then proceeded to knee him in the stomach. He followed by launching an uppercut onto Lucario's jaw and sent him flying backwards into one of the few trees left standing. Lucario desperately struggled to stand up but it was to no avail, he collapsed and was now sitting against the tree clutching his side. Ash took a few seconds to recover from the attacks he had just endured and then turned his head to see the jackal sitting at the base of the tree. Slowly he walked over to him and before reaching him he said.

"Its over."

Ash then ruthlessly grabbed the jackal by the neck and lifted him up pining hin against the tree.

Lucario heard Ash footsteps draw closer and closer by the second until he stopped and heard .

"Its over."

He then felt Ash's hand wrap around his neck and felt himself being lifted and shoved against the tree, but despite all that he had only one thought going through his head. He had failed his master, he had failed his friend.

"Last words before I end you life" Ash ordered coldly.

Lucario could only think of one thing he wished to say at this moment. He opened his eyes and looked into Ash's before he said.

"Master I know you can hear me and I am sorry but I have failed you, thank you for saving me it was an honor to be by your side."

As soon as he finished he let tears flow out of his eyes and quickly closed them as he awaited death. He waited and waited but it did not come. He opened his eyes and looked down at Ash seeing him struggling. His aura was flaring wildly but then he noticed it was starting to become a bright blue again and suddenly the hand around his neck released him making him fall to the ground. He righted himself and looked over to see Ash kneeling on the ground with his head down and arms to his side and a bright blue aura illuminating his body. Ash then lifted his head slightly and looked at Lucario before saying.

"You did not fail, you saved me, thank you my friend."

Ash then collapsed on the floor and became unconscious.

Garchomp had arrived at camp with Cynthia on his back and was now in the process of waking someone up. He was looking around hoping to find her quickly and after a few seconds finally spotted her. Garchomp walked over and shook her awake.

"Faith wake up I need your help" Garchomp pleaded.

A beautiful Gardevoir stood up and looked over at Garchomp. She had light blue coloring in place of where the green usually was on one of her species and spoke with a gentle motherly voice.

"What's wrong. What happened?" she asked.

Garchomp led her to Cynthia and then grabbed her Garchomp's pokeball and released his mate.

"They were attacked and injured can you help them?" asked Garchomp.

"Yes of course but you better go tell our master his mate is here he will want to help" she stated.

At the mention of Ash Garchomp became visibly worried once again. Lucario and Ash had not returned yet and he was beginning to fear the worst. This did not go unnoticed by Gardevoir as she walked over to Garchomp and asked.

"What's wrong."

She then looked over to the spot where Ash usually slept and when she saw no one there she turned to Garchomp.

"Where is our master and where is Luca?" she asked alarmingly.

Garchomp bowed his head and responded.

"Ash lost control again and headed deep into the forest, Luca and I found him but Luca told me to go back and find Ash's mate and mine. He said he would try to bring Ash back here and told me to tell you to be ready."

Gardevoir quickly became worried, she had seen this happen once and it was disastrous but she knew all she could do was wait and hope for the best.

"I am going to go find them and I'll bring them back" Garchomp stated.

Gardevoir nodded and then looked at Garchomp and said.

"Please bring them back safe."

Garchomp nodded and took off into the sky as fast as he could. Gardevoir then walked over to Cynthia and her Garchomp to begin looking over their injuries.

**Minutes later**

Garchomp was beginning to arrive at the place where he had dropped off Lucario until he noticed that not far away the forest looked destroyed. Tree were split, broke, and shattered. The ground was filled with cracks and craters but there was no sign of Ash or Lucario. He descended and landed in the middle of the destroyed part of the forest. He looked around until he finally saw something near the trees that were still standing. He hurried over and looked at the ground to see Ash and Lucario laying there unconscious.

Garchomp quickly took action and leaned down and picked up Ash putting him on his back. He then saw Lucario and did the same adjusting him on his back. Garchomp quickly adjusted himself and gently took off into the sky.

Cynthia had woken up to see someone tending to her. She saw a combination of white and blue and then realized that the person treating her was a Gardevoir.

"Where am I?" Cynthia asked groggily.

"You are at our camp, Garchomp brought you here after he found you two" Gardevoir answered.

"Is my Garchomp okay?" she questioned.

"Yes she's right over there resting but will make a quick recovery" Gardevoir stated.

Cynthia sat up noticing she was back at Ash's camp and saw Garchomp laying down over by the campfire.

"Wait where's Ash we were looking for him and then we were attacked" Cynthia stated.

"It is not for me to explain only Lucario can tell you the whole story" Gardevoir said with a hint of worry in her voice.

Immediately after saying this a loud roar was heard in the distance. Gardevoir quickly stood up and looked up at the sky attempting to spot the large dragon. As the seconds passed Gardevoir and Cynthia became even more worried until they spotted Garchomp in the sky above the camp. Garchomp gently landed and called them over. Cynthia and Gardevoir quickly rushed over to him but quickly stopped and gasped when they saw both Ash and Lucario laying unconscious on Garchomp's back. Gardevoir quickly recovered and headed over to Lucario picking him up with her psychic abilities. Cynthia followed by going over to Ash and carefully bringing him down from Garchomp's back. Gardevoir took Lucario over near the campfire and laid him down. Cynthia followed and placed Ash next to Lucario and sat next to him holding his hand. Gardevoir was working on treating Lucario's injuries until he stirred and opened his eyes.

"Help our master, I will be fine" he said to her.

"but Luca you're hurt…" she started.

"Go help him I will be fine" he commanded.

Gardevoir hesitantly left Lucario laying there and walked over to Ash. She began looking him over and noticed there weren't any grave injuries but he was not unharmed. She bandaged him up where necessary and cleaned him off a bit. When she was almost finished she heard Lucario's voice behind her.

"Is he stable?" he asked.

"Luca you should be lying down you're hurt too" she reprimanded.

"Like I said I'll be fine but thanks for the concern" he said while clutching his side.

He then walked over and sat next to Ash. Lucario closed his eyes and begun to concentrate making the appendages on his head rise. After a few seconds his right paw became surrounded by blue energy making it glow brightly. He then reached over and place his paw on Ash's forehead causing the glow around his paw to spread through Ash's body until it fully surrounded him. Lucario then removed his paw and collapsed on the floor but was still conscious. Gardevoir quickly rushed over to him and helped him. She then proceeded to look over his injuries and heal them as best she could. When she was done Lucario sat up and leaned against one of the logs placed around the fire. He looked over at his master and saw Cynthia sitting next to him holding his hand. Lucario smiled and looked to his right to see Gardevoir sitting next to him. He looked at her and smiled. She smiled back and put her hand on top of his and whispered.

"I'm glad you're safe."

Raichu, Lucario, Gardevoir, Cynthia, and both Garchomp were now gathered around the campfire waiting for Ash to wake up. Lucario then looked towards Ash and Cynthia and spoke up.

"I heard you were attacked, are you okay?" he asked.

Cynthia quickly figured out the question was directed at her.

"I'm okay, its him I'm worried about" she replied looking at Ash.

"He will be okay but I figured you would have many questions, it is one of the main reasons I had Garchomp bring you here" Lucario stated.

"On that note, thank you for saving us Garchomp" Cynthia added.

Garchomp slightly nodded in a way of saying 'no problem.'

Cynthia then turned to look at Lucario once again and said.

"There's so many things I want to ask but I don't know where to begin."

"I will tell you everything, you deserve to know but it is a long story" Lucario warned.

"I have time" she replied as she looked at Ash.

Lucario nodded and begun to tell Cynthia the whole story.

**(Note: this next segment will be mostly told through Lucario's POV, he will be narrating the whole story to Cynthia.)**

It had been a week since he had departed from his old life. He had left everything behind but the clothes on his back and the pokemon he had taken with him. He didn't know what he would do, he was just a boy who felt lost without a home, lost in this vast world. But in a way I like to think that everything that happened was fate and in a way it was, because had he not been lost I would not be here today. I was a young Riolu back then, only two days old so therefore I was very curious about the world around me. I remember my mother, she was a kind and honorable Lucario. I remember hearing her everyday while I was still in that egg telling me about the many wonders of the world. It was then that I hatched and when I emerged she looked at me with a mixed expression. I saw love in her eyes but I also saw worry. Of course I did not know that at the time and all I saw was the person who had taken care of me. I did not know why but my mother kept me a secret from as many people as she could, but it is impossible to hide forever. Two days after hatching I wandered off hoping to see more of the majestic world I had been told of. Then it had all happened so quickly. I was grabbed and brought back to the place where we all resided. My mother had been looking for me and saw me being dragged away. She looked at the other Lucario with anger and commanded.

"Let go of my son."

The other Lucario only glared at her and stated.

"I must take him to the elders, you know this."

The Lucario then told to others to restrain her while he took me away. I could see my mother struggle as I cried out for her to no avail. I was taken into a cave where the elders resided and was place in front of them. The three older Lucario looked at me with emotions that back then I did not recognize, but now I know they had looked at me with anger, worry, and fear.

"Who does this child belong to?" the three bellowed.

"He is my son" said a voice coming from the mouth of the cave.

I turned around to see my mother running towards me. When she reached me she took me into her arms and hugged me tightly.

"Why did you not bring this to our attention?" asked the first elder.

"Because I know what you would do!" she yelled.

"You know what we must do! You know why it is necessary!" the second one reprimanded.

"You can't I wont let you!" she cried.

"I am sorry Solana but it will be done, with or without your approval" the third one declared.

My mother was now crying a river of tears and hugging me even tighter. She looked down at me and then said.

"Please let me have at least one more day with him."

The three elders looked at each other before they nodded and the first one spoke.

"You may have the rest of today and tonight but it will happen tomorrow, a guard will escort you wherever you go to assure he does not escape."

My mother cried even more before she turned and begun walking out of the cave with me still in her arms and a guard following close behind.

Back then I had no idea what they had meant but today I know very well why they had looked at me the way they did and why they wanted to take me from my mother. You see there are many pokemon in this world that even to this day have a warped way of thinking. As you can see I am not an ordinary Lucario and many pokemon see this as a sign of something wicked. Many people think that all pokemon are peaceful and do not have the same flaws humans do. But the truth is we are not different at all, we have the same flaws as well and one of those happens to be prejudice. Many pokemon believe that one such as me with a different physical appearance than the rest is an incarnation of evil. They believe Arceus made us look different as a way to identify the ones who strayed from the path he chose for us and instead chose a path of evil. Many deal differently with this. Some exile the pokemon, some just resent it for the rest of its life. But me, I was sentence to death and was given a name to reflect what they called "the sins of my heart" a name that to this day very few people know.

I was only one day away from loosing my life and I did not know it. My mother had spent the rest of the day with me trying to make me as comfortable as possible but o could see sadness in her and couldn't help but feel the same. Toward the end of the day we got to our home and my mother sat me down and said.

"My son you are my pride and joy. There is nothing in this world that would make me happier than seeing you grow into the great person you will one day become. We will get through this trust me."

She then walked behind the guard that had followed us all day and while he was distracted she knocked him unconscious. She then held out her paw toward me and I took it without hesitation. We ran toward the forest as fast as we could but before entering it I looked back at the place I had been born in but felt nothing. I then turned and began running with my mother right next to me.

We had been running all night and I was tired and hungry. My mother noticed this and stopped to give me time to recuperate but it was short lived. In a moments notice she took me into her arms and begun running. I asked her what was going on and she simply looked down at me and responded.

"The bad people are here and they want to take you from me."

I was scared now, I did not want to loose my mother. She kept running as fast as she could but in the end we reached a small clearing and they surrounded us. They had finally caught up and were now looking at us with anger in their eyes. My mother stood in front of me protectively and yelled.

"You will not take him, you will have to go over my dead body first!"

"The five Lucario glared at her until one spat out.

"You would give you life for this thing."

"With pleasure." she stated before she rushed towards the group of Lucario.

In mere moments the scene around me changed. There were no five Lucario fighting my mother and I could do nothing to help her. At first my mother's determination to protect me was enough for her to hold her own against the other five but slowly her strength and stamina began to dwindle and the other Lucario were gaining the upper hand. Then suddenly my mother was sent flying towards me and landed next to where I was hiding, I was worried and ran to see if she was okay. I looked at her and saw the fatigue that plagued her body and I couldn't help but feel obsolete. I then looked into my mother's eyes and saw a sea of emotions and I realized what was going through her mind. We wouldn't make it out of this. The other five Lucario begun to approach us ready to attack at a moments notice. I stood up and walked in front of my mother spreading my arms sideways.

"This is my mother and you will not harm her, I will protect her with my life" I declared.

One of the Lucario snarled and readied an aura sphere in his right paw. I closed my eyes and waited for the attack but none ever came. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a small yellow rodent in front of me with cheeks sparking. Then from behind me I haerd a single word.

"Thunderbolt."

I then saw the Pikachu fire a bolt of lighting that split and hit all five Lucario making the back up. I quickly turned and saw a human standing behind my mother and me glaring at the other five Lucario. My mother slowly began to stand up and looked at the human before she nodded her head in appreciation. She then ran over and joined Pikachu's side. I looked on as my mother fought with renewed vigor next to that Pikachu until eventually they began to get overwhelmed once again. One of the Lucario grabbed Pikachu and beat him relentlessly before throwing him toward the human. Then without hesitation they converged on my mother and fiercely attacked her until I saw her collapse on the ground now only an inch from death. I begun crying and attempted to run out to her but the human held me back. The other Lucario picked up my mother and held her up before one spoke.

"Human this is not your fight, give us the child and you may walk away, interfere any longer and we will not have any choice but to eliminate you all."

"You will not take him and you will not harm her, I will stop you" the human declared.

"So be it you have made your choice" the Lucario said as he walked up to my mother and fired a point blank aura sphere at her sending her flying toward a tree.

Tears began flowing from my eyes as I called out to her but there was no answer. I collapsed to the ground crying until I felt something immense. A wave of energy washed over me but this was no normal energy. I was young but even then I could tell this energy was full of anger, pain, and hatred. I quickly begun looking around the clearing until my eyes stopped on the human behind me. He was surrounded by a dark energy an energy much like the one I had seen my species manipulate but this one was dark and it was very strong. What I saw next I would never forget. In the blink of an eye the human was in front of ll five Lucario and began fighting them. I could not believe what I saw, one by one each of them fell on the ground unconscious until all that was left was the human. It took me a couple of seconds to recover from my shock but I quickly ran over to my mother to check on her condition. I saw her laying there battered and bruised as she struggled to open her eyes and spoke her last words to me.

"Go with him my son, he will protect you, I love you."

Her eyes then slowly closed and she stopped breathing. Once again tears flowed from my eyes and fell on my mother. I then looked back to see the human on his knees before he fell on the floor unconscious.

Aura is the energy flowing throughout everything in this world. Everyone in the world is capable of harnessing the power of aura but very few choose to do so as it requires immense amounts of dedication. Should anyone choose to harness the power of aura they would need to awaken the power within them first. There are three ways to awaken the energy inside of yourself. The first way is by training. Many aura guardians use this method to awaken their aura as it is the safest and most controllable way of doing it. The second way is by being in a life or death situation. It is know that some have awakened their aura in an attempt to save themselves in a life or death situation. If awakened this way aura can take longer to fully control. Finally there is the third and most dangerous way, emotions. There are few emotions powerful enough to make this happen and none of these emotions are good. Once the person's aura is awakened in this way anytime they feel extreme anger, hate or emotional pain they are consumed by those emotions making them unpredictable, uncontrollable , and very powerful. This is what happened to our master on that day many years ago and tonight as well. When I lost my mother that day I believe he saw himself in me. He saw himself loosing his mother and being betrayed by the people he trusted most all over again and his aura awakened through all the emotions flowing through him. When he saw his old companions again tonight something must have happened and those emotions overtook him. But now that he can expertly control his aura he is near impossible to defeat when that darkness takes over him. Only by being able to control that power will he be free from that darkness and finally have mastered the aura within him. But until then I will be there to help him ward off the darkness.

**(End of Lucario's POV)**

Cynthia was speechless from what she had just heard. She felt guilt build up inside her because she believed all the feelings and emotions Ash held down were partly her fault. With Ash's head now on her lap she stroked his hair and leaned down to give him a soft kiss before she whispered.

"I'm sorry."

Lucario saw this and spoke up.

"I hope that answered any questions you might have had."

Cynthia nodded and then resumed stroking Ash's hair. All pokemon that had listened to the story were no returning to the spot where they regularly slept knowing their master would be okay tonight. Lucario then slowly got up and walked over to sit next to Cynthia.

"Everyone here has been told this story at one time or another but you are the only human to have heard the whole story" Lucario explained.

Cynthia was shocked, she could not believe they trusted her so much considering she had only met them a few days ago.

"I see you are shocked to hear this but we trust you and so does he. He talked about you a lot all those years he was gone, how he hoped that one day he would see you again and in all those years I have not seen him happier than when he is with you. He respects you and would risk his life for you and so would we" explained Lucario.

"You've had a rough past Lucario and I am sorry about your mother but I am grateful that you trust me enough to tell me" said Cynthia.

"My true name is something I have not told anyone but my master and Faith but I trust you enough to reveal it…." Lucario began to say.

"Lucario you don't have to tell me, whichever name they gave you all those years ago does not reflect what you are today. I see a loyal and honorable Lucario that I am proud to call my friend." Cynthia stated.

Lucario looked at her and smiled, to him Cynthia was so much like his master and he was happy they were together. Lucario got up and before walking back to Gardevoir he said.

"My name is Despair, thank you for your kindness mistress."

Cynthia was now frozen at what she had heard. Lucario had called her mistress and told her his real name. she felt honored but mostly she felt like part of the family. She looked down at Ash, smiled and slowly drifted to sleep.

The sun had arisen and was shinning brightly in the sky. Cynthia woke up to see Ash's pokemon partaking in their daily routines. Carefully she got up as to not wake Ash up and went over to the pond to wash her face. She looked around to see if she could find her Garchomp when suddenly she heard a beeping in one if her pockets.

_**Preliminary match**_

_**Red Satoshi vs. Oliver Stone**_

_**Arena #5**_

_**Starting in 10 min.**_

Cynthia quickly realized this was the reminder she had set so she would be in time to see Ash battle today. But Ash was in no condition to battle and she knew if he didn't show up he would be disqualified. She had to do something she had to do something, she had to get the match postponed. She frantically began looking for her Garchomp and saw her on the other side of the clearing. Quickly she ran over to her and pleaded.

"Garchomp I need you to get me to the arenas fast can you take me."

Her Garchomp quickly nodded and got down to let her climb on. As soon as Cynthia was on they immediately took off towards the arenas in hopes of getting there before Ash match started.

**Five minutes later**

"Come on where is it, where is it" Cynthia said to herself as she attempted to find Charles Goodshow's office.

After another minute of searching she found the name she was looking for stamped on a door and quickly rushed in without knocking.

Charles Goodshow was looking out of the large window in his office when he suddenly heard the door burst open. He turned around and saw the beautiful blonde champion of Sinnoh standing there.

"Cynthia what are you doing here?" he asked.

Cynthia wasted no time and responded.

"I need you to postpone the match please.'

""Whoa slow down, you want me to do what?" Goodshow questioned.

Cynthia realized that if she didn't explain herself she was not going to get anywhere.

"One of the trainers cannot make it to this match you need to postpone it at least until tomorrow." she explained.

"Cynthia you know I cannot do that even if I wanted to" Goodshow stated.

"Charles this is Red Satoshi we're talking about he's a top competitor" Cynthia added.

"And what happened to young Ash Ketchum?" Goodshow questioned.

Cynthia immediately went into shock, the knew as well maybe even longer than she had. Tons of questions began to fill her head until she spoke up again.

"How did you know?" Cynthia asked with shock.

"Scott and I have known for some time but decided to keep quiet about it" Goodshow replied.

Cynthia turned her head to see a man in a Hawaiian shirt and khaki short sitting on the couch to the right.

"I'm actually the one that sent Ash the invitation to come" added Scott.

Still shocked at the revelation that both men knew of Ash's identity she slowly tried to gather her words.

"Okay so you both know how important this is to him, he's in no shape to battle so wont you postpone the match" she begged.

"Why, he look just fine to me" Scott said as he looked out onto the field from Goodshows office.

Cynthia ran over and looked down to see her boyfriend standing across from his opponent confident as ever.

"That man never ceases to amaze me" she said to herself as she saw Ash pulling out a pokeball.


End file.
